PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

Shelf... 

BX  5139   .G485  1836 
Gilly,  William  Stephen 

-1855. 
Hor  catechetic 

,  178S 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/horcatecheticexpOOgill 


HOBJE  CATECHETICjE  : 


AN  EXPOSITION 

OF  THE 

DUTY  AND  ADVANTAGES 

OF 

PUBLIC  CATECHISING  IN  CHURCH, 

BY  W.  S.  GILL  Y,  M.  A. 

PREBENDARY  OP  DURHAM ; 
EDITED, 

WITH  ADDITIONAL  MATTER, 
BY 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  DOANE,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


WILLIAM  MARSHALL  &  CO. 

MDCCCXXXTI. 


SURE  I  AM,  CATECHISING,  IX  ITS 
ORIGINAL,  TRUE  SENSE,  IMFLJ  ES 
SOMETHING  MORE  THA5  A  BARE 
RUXIIXG  OVER  AX  OLD  FORM, 
THOUGH  THAT  CONSISTS  OF  PRO- 
PER QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS, 
AND  CONTAINS  WHATSOEVER  IS 
NEEDFUL  EITHER  TO  BELIEF  OR 
PRACTICE.  BP.    EDMUND  LAW. 


J.  L.  POWELL: 
iiorary  Press,  Burlicgtoa  N.  J. 


It  is  a  vulgar  notion,  and  may  be  a  vulgar  error,  that  wheresoever, 
in  the  realm  of  nature,  a  poison  groweth,  there  growcth  near  unto  it 
a  certain  antidote.  It  is  at  least  a  touching  attestation  to  the  habit- 
ual faith  of  the  common  people  in  the  providence  of  God,  and  an 
expressive  tribute  to  his  ever  present  and  prevailing  goodness.  But 
whatever  truth  there  be  in  this  doctrine  of  physical  compensations, 
in  the  dealings  which  God  hath  with  men  as  moral  agents,  there 
is  certainly  something  analogous  to  it.  Out  of  the  sorest  evils  which 
our  fallen  nature  brings  upon  itself,  there  ever  springeth  up  a  healing 
retribution.  Excess  of  license  chastens  and  reclaims  itself.  Rebel- 
lion weaves  a  scorpion  scourge  that  whips  us  back  to  God.  The 
stern  conviction  which  experience  ever  brings  of  the  error  of  our  own 
ways,  and  of  the  folly  of  our  own  devices,  is  both  the  motive  and 
preparative  of  that  return  to  a  better  mind,  without  which  peace  and 
comfort  are  forever  hopeless.  So  doth  the  wrath  of  man  redound  to 
his  Creator's  glory.  So,  in  mercy  to  our  souls,  doth  he  restrain  the 
fierce  remainder. 

Are  there  not  manifested  in  onr  day  clear  indications  of  this  recu- 
perative process  of  God's  providence,  in  the  instinctive  readiness  with 
which  men  now  begin  to  turn  from  vague  and  barren  generalization, 
from  the  heats  of  artificial  excitement,  or  the  shallow  pools  of  super- 
ficial nonsense,  to  the  cool,  green  pastures,  to  the  deep,  still  waters, 
of  God's  word, — and  to  those  slow,  and  patient,  and  pains-taking 
methods,  by  which  alone  they  can  be  found  ?  The  age  which  just 
precedes  us,  and  of  which  ourselves  are  part,  has  been,  it  must  be 
owned,  an  age  of  loud  and  liberal  profession,  and,  we  fear  it  must  as 


IV 


INTRODUCTION. 


well  be  owned,  of  scant  and  sparing  practice.  The  apostle  sketches 
it  in  few  and  happy  words,  when,  writing  to  the  first  Ephesian  bi- 
shop, he  describes  certain  persons  of  that  day,  as  "ever  learning,  and 
never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."  It  is  not  want 
of  means.  For  it  is  a  day  of  Bibles  and  of  schools — the  dynasty  of 
the  Press — the  age  of  light.  It  is  not  want  of  stimulus  to  effort.  The 
very  atmosphere  is  excitement.  The  world  is  in  commotion.  The 
human  family  have  gone,  as  it  were,  into  Committee  of  the  whole,  for 
"the  diffusion  of "  what  is  called,  "useful  knowledge."  "Many" 
are  seen  in  all  directions  to  "run  to  and  fro;"  and  yet  "knowledge" 
— true,  sound,  substantial,  saving  knowledge — "  is  "  not  "  increased." 
We  have  been  looking  back  with  a  pity  that  was  half  contempt  upon 
our  poor  groping  ancestors,  when,  in  integrity,  and  piety,  and  mo- 
desty, and  dignity,  and  courtesy,  we  are  far  out  of  sight  behind  them. 
We  have  congratulated  the  world,  and  plumed  ourselves,  upon  "the 
march  of  mind,"  when,  in  good  truth,  so  far  as  the  strong  founda- 
tions, the  substantial  safeguards,  and  the  crowning  ornaments  of 
social  life  are  thought  of,  we  have  been  stationary,  if  indeed  we  have 
not  retrograded.  It  is  a  cheering  symptom,  an  olive  branch  of  hope, 
a  token  that  the  Lord  God  hath  not  "  cast  off  forever,"  that,  in  the 
midst  of  this  prevailing  self-delusion,  misgivings  have  arisen,  that  all 
is  not  so  well  as  it  appears.  There  is  an  enquiry  for  "  first  princi- 
ples." There  is  a  searching  after  "  the  old  paths."  There  is  a  gen- 
eral persuasion  that  "the  old  is  better."  A  revival,  at  least  in  part, 
is  now  in  progress,  of  the  methods  of  primitive  instruction  and,  we 
will  yet  hope,  of  the  measures  of  primitive  devotion.  The  Church 
has  taken  into  her  own  hands,  what  she  never  should  have  delegated, 
the  high  trust,  to  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  The  plan 
of  systematic  charity,  on  principle,  finds  universal  and  substantial 
favour.  The  ancient  institution  of  public  catechising  is  revived 
with  great  acceptance.  Arc  not  these  encouraging  "  signs  of  the 
times?"  Is  not  God  showing  "some  token  upon  us  for  good?"  May 
we  not  implore  him,  with  renewed  confidence,  still  to  "  revive  his 
work?"  "Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name 
give  the  praise!" 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  contributing  something  to  the  accomplishment 


INTRODUCTION. 


V 


of  these  happy  presages  of  advancing  knowledge  and  increasing  piety, 
that  the  present  republication  is  attempted.  With  the  thoughtful 
and  the  good,  it  can  require  neither  apology  nor  argument.  The 
attempt  to  improve  the  young  is  one  which  among  them  will  always 
meet  with  universal  favour.  All  know  that  if  the  fountains  be  not 
pure,  the  streams  must  be  corrupt.  All  are  aware  that  if  men  hope 
to  reap  in  summer,  they  must  plough  and  sow  in  spring.  All  agree 
that  the  hope  of  the  Church,  that  the  hope  of  the  world,  is  in  the 
young.  How  vainly,  if  they  be  not  early  taught  to  seek  the  Lord ! 
How  vainly,  if  Christian  parents  do  not  bring  them  up  in  his  nurture 
and  admonition — if  Christian  pastors  feed  not  Christian  lambs  with 
"food  convenient"  for  them  ! 

It  would  be  out  of  place  to  enter  here  into  any  large  discussion  of 
the  merits  of  public  catechising.  In  the  Charge,  which  follows,  the 
subject  is  considered  at  some  length.  In  Mr.  Gilly's  book  there  are 
presented  useful  hints  and  happy  illustrations  for  those  who  seriously 
desire  to  adopt  and  make  effectual  the  primitive  institution.  The 
author  has  not  undertaken,  it  will  at  once  be  seen,  a  regular  treatise. 
He  has  done  what  is  likely,  we  imagine,  to  be  more  useful — thrown 
together  in  an  easy  and  natural  way  the  results  of  his  own  experience ; 
and  thus  taken  by  the  hand,  as  it  were,  any  who  might  consent 
to  walk  with  him  in  the  path  which  he  has  found  so  pleasant  and 
so  profitable.  He  has  wisely  deemed  it  better  to  write  a  book  which 
would  set  men  to  thinking  for  themselves,  than  to  attempt  to  reason 
out  the  subject  for  them.  His  little  volume  will  be  found,  to  use  a 
phrase  of  Aristotle's,  full  of  "  the  seeds  of  things."  They  will  take 
root,  we  trust,  and  grow,  and  bear  rich  fruit,  in  many  minds.  At  its 
first  appearance  it  attracted  much  attention.  Its  republication  in  this 
country  has  been  much  desired.  It  is  now  attempted,  in  the  hope— 
which  may  God  please  to  grant ! — that  it  may  add  something  to  the 
wholesome  impulse,  which  is  now  working  in  the  minds  of  Christian 
men,  toward  sounder  methods  of  instruction  in  the  faith  and  practice 
of  the  Gospel,  and  which  will  not  fail  to  lead,  if  he  vouchsafe  the 
gTaces  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  larger  attainments  in  holiness,  and  to 
higher  elevations  of  piety. 
1* 


What  may  be  the  cause  why  so  much  cloth  so  soon  changeth  co- 
lour ?  It  is  because  it  was  never  wet  wadded,  which  giveth  the 
fixation  to  a  colour,  and  setteth  it  in  the  cloth. 

What  may  be  the  reason  why  so  many  nowadays  are  carried  about 
with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  even  to  scour  every  poinf  in  the  com- 
pass round  about  1  Surely  it  is  because  they  were  never  well 
catechised  in  the  principles  of  religion. — Thomas  Fuller. 


THE  CHURCH'S  CARE  FOR  LITTLE  CHILDREN: 
33tsJjop  Doanc's  SeconU  (EJarfle 

TO  THE  CLERGY  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 
M  DCCC  XXXVI. 


'Tis  a  pity  that  people  dont  look  at  their 
Catechism  sometimes  when  they  are  grown 
up :  for  it  is  full  as  good  for  men  and  wo- 
men as  it  is  for  children;  nay  better:  for 
though  the  answers  contained  in  it  are 
intended  for  children  to  repeat,  yet  the  du- 
ties enjoined  in  it  are  intended  for  men  and 
women  to  put  in  practice.  It  is.  if  I  may 
so  speak,  the  very  grammar  of  Christianity, 
and  of  our  Church ;  and  they  who  under- 
stand every  part  of  their  Catechism  tho- 
roughly, will  not  be  ignorant  of  any  thing 
which  a  plain  Christian  need  to  know. 


rfRortwiy  of 
P&IITCETON 
,R£C.  FEB  m\ 
THEOLOGICAL 


CHARGE. 


My  brethren  of  the  Clergy, 

I  suppose  that  if  from  all  the  sacred  book  that  sen- 
tence should  be  chosen  which  would  find  with  human 
hearts  the  fullest  acceptation,  it  would  be  these  words  of 
Jesus  Christ, — "  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 
And  1  am  persuaded,  in  like  manner,  that  if  a  single  aspect 
or  provision  of  the  Church  should  be  selected,  to  establish 
the  conviction  that  she  came  from  God,  and  was  devised 
for  man,  that  would  be  taken  which  presents  her,  as  the 
Spouse  of  Christ,  training  the  children  of  her  Lord,  in  ho- 
liness and  piety,  for  their  inheritance  of  glory.  It  follows, 
by  a  necessary  consequence,  that  if  we,  my  reverend  bre- 
thren, would  most  effectually  do  honour  to  the  Master 
whom  we  serve,  and  most  essentially  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  souls  entrusted  to  our  care,  we  must  have  ever  in 
our  hearts  the  sense  of  our  relation  to  the  young,  and 
labour  constantly,  with  diligonce,  fidelity  and  prayer,  to  be 
approved  of  Jesus,  by  the  test  which  he  proposed  to  Peter, 
— "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these? 
Feed  my  lambs." 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  Primary  Charge  to  state  and 
urge  "  the  edification  of  the  Church,  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,"  as  "the  office  and  duty  of  the  Christian  Ministry." 
It  seemed  to  me  the  best  improvement  of  the  occasion 
which  brought  us  first  together,  as  fellow-servants  in  tho 


10 


same  household  of  the  common  faith,  to  state  thus  gener- 
ally the  objects  and  the  nature  of  our  sacred  calling — the 
end  at  which  we  aim,  the  means  by  which  we  seek  it,  the 
faithful  efforts,  fervent  prayers,  sincere  desires,  to  which 
the  Lord  assures  his  blessing,  approval  here,  and  "  life  for 
evermore."  Of  a  subject  so  extensive,  the  discussion,  of 
necessity,  was  partial.  An  outline  only  could  be  given,  to 
be  filled  up  and  finished,  as  occasion  should  demand,  and 
God  permit.  Spared  by  his  gracious  providence,  through 
three  years  more,  the  period  has  arrived,  at  which  "  it  is 
deemed  proper,"  in  the  judgment  of  the  Church,*  "  unless 
prevented  by  a  reasonable  cause,"  that  I  again  address 
you  in  "  a  Charge."  In  proceeding  to  take  up  the  details 
of  that  great  subject,  which  could  then  be  treated  only  in 
the  mass,  I  select  for  present  consideration  the  attractive 
feature  which  has  just  been  specified — tiie  Church's 
care  for  "  little  children" — and  I  ask  your  patient 
attention,  reverend  brethren,  while,  from  an  examination  of 
her  beautiful  and  merciful  provisions,  I  develope  her  fidelity 
and  our  responsibility. 

I.  The  Church  is  faithful  to  her  Lord  in  the  care  she 
takes  for  "  little  children" — 

To  bring  them  to  him  in  Infant  Baptism  ; 

To  train  them  up  for  him,  in  the  instructions  of  the 
Catechism;  and 

To  engage  them  to  be  his  forever,  in  the  rite  of  Confir- 
mation. 

II.  In  each  of  these,  but  most  especially  in  the  second 
of  them — the  catechetical  instruction  of  the  young — we 
derive,  my  reverend  brethren,  from  her  fidelity,  the  argu- 

*  Canon  xxvi  of  the  General  Convention. 


ment  and  admonition  of  our  great  responsibility. — God 
grant  that  we  may  so  receive  the  Saviour,  in  the  little  child- 
ren whom  he  loves,  that,  at  the  last,  he  may  receive  and 
own  us  all  as  faithful  shepherds,  and  hestow  on  us  the  crown 
of  life,  "  that  fadeth  not  away." 

i.  The  Church  is  faithful  to  her  Lord  in  bringing  "  little 
children"  to  him,  in  Infant  Baptism.  I  assume  that  she  has 
right  to  do  so.  I  undertake  no  defence  of  the  grounds 
and  reasons  of  this  sacrament.  I  enter  into  no  argument 
to  prove  that  the  Gospel  is  more  comprehensive,  more 
benevolent,  more  regardful  of  human  infirmity,  than  the 
Law.  I  can  conceive  of  no  necessity  to  show  that  He, 
who,  before  his  crucifixion,  said,  "  Suffer  little  children  to 
come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  did  not  afterwards,  when  he  had  risen 
from  the  dead,  exclude  them  from  the  initiatory  rite  of  his 
religion,  or  forbid  that  they  should  "  be  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Spirit,"  without  which,  he  declared  to  Nicodemus, 
none  can  "enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  But,  the 
authority  conceded,  how  benign,  how  beautiful,  how  admir- 
able for  wisdom  and  benevolence,  the  uses  of  the  ordinance ! 
The  infant  sufferer  is  born  into  a  world  of  sorrow  and  of 
sin,  the  heir  at  once  of  both.  At  the  first  threshold  of  his 
being,  the  Saviour's  spouse  comes  out  to  meet  him.  She 
bears  him  to  the  bleeding  Cross.  She  laves  him  in  the 
fountain  that  forever  flows  from  it,  "  for  sin  and  for  un- 
cleanness."  She  signs  him  with  its  sacred  sign.  It  is  the 
signature  of  heaven  upon  his  brow  and  in  his  heart.  He 
is  «  born  again"  "  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit."  He  is  the 
child  of  God,  by  "  adoption  and  grace."  He  is  an  heir, 
through  hope,  of  the  eternal  kingdom,  by  the  merits  of  the 
most  precious  death  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God. 


12 


ii.  When  she  has  brought  the  little  children  thus  to 
Christ,  and  made  them  by  adoption  members  of  the  family 
of  God,  does  she  so  leave  them  to  the  sinful  bias  of  their 
fallen  nature,  and  the  corrupting  influence  of  the  wicked 
world  1  No  !  She  bears  them  gently  in  a  mother's  arms. 
She  clasps  them  fondly  to  a  mother's  breast.  They  are 
nurtured  at  her  bosom.  They  are  led  by  her  hand.  They 
are  fed  "  with  milk,  and  not  with  meat."  There  is  ever 
in  her  ear  the  touching  charge  of  her  dear  Lord,  "take  this 
child,  and  nurse  him  for  me ;"  and  the  thought  is  ever 
foremost  in  her  heart,  to  bring  them  up,  whom  He  has  so 
acknowledged,  in  His  nurture  and  holy  admonition.  Ad- 
mirable for  this  end,  is  the  "  Catechism  "  which  she  has 
provided, — a  "form  of  sound  words" — scripture,  or  strictly 
scriptural — the  work  of  men,  giants  in  intellect,  and  saints 
in  piety — "  so  concise  that  the  youngest  child  may  learn  it 
by  heart,  and  yet  so  copious  as  to  contain  all  things  neces- 
sary to  salvation."*  Admirable  is  the  provision  which 
she  has  made,  that  this  unrivalled  summary  of  Christian 
faith  and  practice  may  not  remain  as  a  dead  letter  in  the 
Prayer  Book, — her  rubrics  requiring  "the  minister  of  every 
parish"  "diligently  upon  Sundays  and  Holy-days"  to 
"  instruct  or  examine"  the  "  children  of  his  parish,"  "  open- 
ly in  the  Church,"  in  some  part  of  it;  and  "all  fathers, 
mothers,  masters  and  mistresses  "  being  enjoined  to  "  cause 
their  children,  servants  and  apprentices,  who  have  not 
learned  their  Catechism,  to  come  to  the  Church,  at  the 
time  appointed,  and  obediently  to  hear,  and  to  be  ordered 
by  the  minister)"" — her  canons  directing  that  the  ministers 

*  Jenkin  on  the  Liturgy,  pp.  225,  226. 
f  At  the  end  of  the  Catechism. 


13 

who  have  charge  of  parishes  "  shall  not  only  be  diligent  in 
instructing  the  children  in  the  Catechism,  but  shall  also  by 
stated  catechetical  lectures  and  instruction  be  diligent  in 
informing  the  youth  and  others  in  the  doctrines,  constitu- 
tion, and  liturgy  of  the  Church"* — nay  the  very  title  of 
the  Catechism,  bearing  with  it  this  direct  and  positive  in- 
junction, "  that  is  to  say,  an  instruction  to  be  learned  by 
every  person  before  he  be  brought  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Bishop." 

iii.  From  the  time  that  water  first  was  sprinkled  on  the 
infant's  brow,  in  the  eternal,  triune  Name,  this  was  the 
point  to  which  all  hearts  were  turned.  Nearer  than  father 
or  than  molherf  to  the  children  of  her  Saviour's  love,  the 
Church,  at  that  first  moment  of  his  Christian  being,  ex- 
horted them,  with  the  Godfathers  and  Godmothers,  that 
they  "  take  care  "  that  he  "  be  brought  to  the  Bishop  to  be 
confirmed  by  him,  so  soon  as  he  can  say  the  Creed,  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  is  suffi- 
ciently instructed  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Church  Cate- 
chism, set  forth  for  that  purpose."  Through  all  his  help- 
less infancy,  and  tender  childhood,  and  ingenuous  youth, 
this  purpose  was  pursued.  She  knew  how  in  a  thousand 
ways  the  devious  paths  of  life  would  tempt  his  inexperi- 

*  Canon  xxviii. 

f  In  Gibson's  Codex  there  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  this  more 
than  maternal  interest  of  the  Church  for  "  little  children,"  even  in 
reference  to  their  temporal  safety.  It  is  one  of  the  Constitutions  of 
Edmund,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  and 
is  described  in  the  margin  thus — "  Women  shall  be  often  admonished 
not  to  endanger  their  children."  It  bears  date,  A.  D.  1236. — "  JVe 
faminx  tenellos  node  opprimant,  aliive pcriculo  exponant.  Foemi- 
nae  commoneantur,  ut  pueros  caute  alant,  et  juxta  se  in  nocte  non 
collocarent,  ne  opprimantur.  Solos  juxta  aquas  sine  custode  non  re- 
linquant,  et  hoc  omni  die  Dominica  eis  dicatur. 
2 


14 


enced  feet;  and,  with  a  track  of  light,  she  sketched  for  him 
that  path  of  God's  commandments,  which  is  the  single  path 
of  happiness  and  peace.  She  knew  how  deep  the  stain, 
how  stern  the  yoke  of  sin ;  and  she  set  up  before  him  the 
mysterious  Cross,  and  bid  him  turn  to  it,  through  faith  in 
him  who  suffered  there  and  died,  and  be  redeemed  and 
cleansed  and  live.  She  knew  how  tempting  were  the  vani- 
ties of  time,  and  how  prevailing  were  the  spells  of  earth ; 
and  she  disclosed  to  him  the  joys  of  heaven,  and  its  untold, 
unmingled  and  eternal  glories,  and  exhorted  him  to  set  his 
affections  there,  and  to  have  his  treasure  there  and  his 
home,  that  when  his  flesh  and  his  heart  shall  fail,  that  may 
be  his  rest,  and  his  "portion  forever."  In  the  light  of  such 
instructions,  and  by  the  power  of  such  convictions,  and 
with  the  comfort  of  such  hopes,  she  has  continued  faithfully 
to  catechise*  him  in  the  way  in  which  he  ought  to  go:  and 
now,  "sufficiently  instructed,"  its  truths  engraven  on  his 
heart,  its  precepts  radiant  in  his  life,  he  comes — no  more 
"a  babe  in  Christ,"  but  grown  in  knowledge  and  in  grace, 
the  freeman  of  the  Lord — to  own  before  the  Church  the 
blessed  bond  sealed  for  him  in  his  infancy,  and  in  the  im- 
parted strength  of  God,  the  Sanctifler,  to  make  his  only 
and  his  best  return,  in  yielding  up  himself,  his  soul  and 
body  to  the  service  and  the  glory  of  his  Saviour.  He 
makes  the  solemn  pledge.  He  kneels.  He  supplicates 
the  heavenly  grace.  The  hands  of  an  apostle  rest  with 
holy  prayers  upon  his  head.  And  he  is  God's,  and — so 
he  be  faithful  unto  death — God  is,  and  will  be,  his  forever. 

Such  is  an  outline,  brief  and  rapid,  of  the  beautiful  and 
merciful  provision  by  which  the  Church  demonstrates  and 

*  Proverbs  xxii.  6,  marginal  reading. 


15 


exerts  her  care  for  little  children.  How  true  to  nature ! 
How  profound  in  philosophy!  In  piety  how  elevated! 
How  instinct  with  charity  !  She  "  knows  whereof  we  are 
made,  and  remembers  that  we  are  but  dust."  She  sees 
that  "  of  ourselves  we  are  not  sufficient  to  any  good  thing, 
as  of  ourselves."  She  bears  in  mind  that  for  the  race  of 
man,  so  weak,  so  lost,  so  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins," 
the  Saviour  died,  that  he  might  redeem  them  from  all  ini- 
quity, and  purify  them  to  himself,  as  "  a  peculiar  people, 
zealous  of  good  works."  A  work  so  great  cannot  begin 
too  soon.  In  such  an  enterprize,  so  mighty,  so  momentous, 
involving  the  eternal  welfare  of  immortal  souls,  no  mo- 
ment must  be  lost.  In  resisting  the  whole  bent  and  bias 
of  an  evil  nature,  reclaiming  it  from  the  control  and  thral- 
dom of  a  power  to  which  its  will  consents,  transforming 
it — to  use  the  only  word  which  tells  us  all — creating  it 
anew,  so  that  from  being  sinful  and  loving  sin,  it  shall  be- 
come holy  and  in  love  with  holiness,  there  must  be  need 
of  time,  and  influence,  and  energy,  and  patience,  and 
perseverance,  and  true  love  that  never  fails  nor  falters, 
nor  grows  weary, — and  there  needs  above  them  and  beyond 
them  all,  without  which  all  the  rest  are  vain,  the  sancti- 
fying grace  of  the  divine  and  holy  Spirit.  And  she  brings 
them  all  to  bear — commences  with  the  babe  just  born — 
secures  for  him,  while  worldlings  would  be  caring  for  his 
fortune  or  his  rank,  a  title  to  the  purchase  of  the  Cross,  a 
portion  in  the  heritage  of  heaven — lays  her  wait  for  the 
first  dawning  of  his  moral  nature,  and  has  prepared  her 
pious  hymn  and  holy  prayer,  to  catch  his  infant  heart* — 

*  And  we  may  add,  to  hold  his  aged  heart.  See  a  beautiful  in- 
stance of  the  impression  and  enjoyment  of  an  infant  hymn,  at 
eighty-nine,  in  the  appendix  to  Bishop  Doane's  sermon  commemo- 
rative of  Bishop  White, 


16 


leads  him  gently  by  the  hand  to  tender  pastures  and  still 
waters — teaches  him  diligently,  while  he  sits  in  the  house 
and  when  he  walks  by  the  way,  when  he  lies  down  and 
when  he  rises  up — plies  him  with  "  line  upon  line,  line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept" — 
has  patience  w  ith  his  weakness,  with  his  slowness  of  heart, 
with  his  impatience,  with  his  perversity,  with  his  ingrati- 
tude— and  supplicates,  w  ith  fervent  and  continual  prayers, 
the  blessing  of  that  gracious  Spirit,  who  alone  can  bless 
her  care,  and  crown  her  toil  with  increase. 

And  now,  my  reverend  brethren,  from  the  consideration 
of  the  Church's  faithfulness  in  taking  care  of  "  little 
children,"  what  can  result,  but  the  conviction  of  our  great 
responsibility  ?  In  vain  her  merciful  provision,  without 
hearts  that  can  appreciate  and  adopt  it.  In  vain  her  admi- 
rable plans,  if  there  be  not  willing  hands,  to  carry  them 
out,  and  to  accomplish  them.  How  shall  we  excuse  our- 
selves, if,  with  such  provision  and  such  plans  as  we  possess, 
we  fail  in  our  discharge  of  duty,  and  disappoint  the  Church's 
fondest  hope  ?  How,  at  the  last  great  day,  shall  we  endure 
it,  when  he  who  died  for  all  the  flock,  as  once  he  turned 
and  looked  on  Peter,  shall  turn  and  look  on  us,  and  ask, 
at  our  hands,  the  lambs  our  negligence  has  lost  1  Con- 
strained by  these  considerations,  solicitous  that  in  our  pas- 
toral office  we  may  all  approve  ourselves  good  shepherds, 
that  so  the  Saviour  may  be  honoured,  the  Church  edified, 
the  sheep  and  lambs  w^ell  fed,  immortal  souls  reclaimed 
and  sanctified  and  saved,  and  our  account  returned  "  with 
joy,  and  not  with  grief,"  I  urge  with  utmost  earnestness, 
as  worthy  of  your  best  attention,  and  certain  to  repay  your 
greatest  efforts,  the  catechetical  instruction  of  the  young  ; 
and,  in  what  follows  of  the  present  Charge,  shall  ask  your 


17 

interest  in  the  inquiry,  which  I  now  propose,  as  to  its  exact 
nature,  its  best  method,  and  its  manifold  advantages. 

1.  The  ancient  and  excellent  institution  of  Catechising 
has  suffered  much  depreciation  from  prevailing  errors,  as 
to  its  exact  nature  and  intention.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  these  were  both  fulfilled  when,  now  and  then, — on 
rare  occasions,  as  if  an  irksome  task ;  when  the  whole  con- 
gregation had  retired,  as  if  a  work  affording  neither  interest 
nor  profit — its  words,  committed  all  to  memory,  were  said 
by  rote, — the  questions  asked  exactly  as  they  stand,  no 
less,  no  more, — the  answers  rendered  to  the  letter,  and 
too  often  with  but  little  more  of  understanding  or  of  appli- 
cation than  a  well-instructed  parrot  might  attain  to.  Who 
can  wonder,  if  the  institution,  so  administered,  should  suf- 
fer disrepute — if  a  duty  discharged  with  so  little  interest, 
should  be  interesting  to  few  or  none — if  an  office,  so  re- 
duced and  dwindled  to  a  bare  and  barren  form,  should  fail 
of  any  useful  purpose,  and  fall  into  neglect  1  In  the  be- 
ginning it  was  not  so.  By  catechising,  beyond  a  question, 
the  faith  and  practice  of  the  Gospel  first  gained  an  intro- 
duction among  men.  "  It  was  principally  by  catechising," 
says  Bishop  Mant,  on  the  authority  of  Hegesippus,  "that 
the  religion  of  Jesus  was  in  a  few  years  spread  over  the 
known  world."*  "  By  catechising,  under  Heaven,"  says 
Archdeacon  Bayley,  "  was  planted  the  apostolic  Church ; 
by  catechising,  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  was  sent  forth  into 
all  lands. ""j"  "  St.  Paul's  converts,"  says  the  present  Bishop 
of  Chester,  "  had  all  been  instructed  in  the  faith,  as  the 
custom  was,  catechetical ly."^:    "  Clemens  Alcxandrinus, 

•  Notes  on  the  Catechism. 

f  Charge  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Stow. 

i  J.  B.  Sumner,  Apostolical  Preaching,  4th  LonJon  edition,  p.  308. 

2* 


18 


Heraclias,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen, 
were  catechists ;  and  the  latter  was  so  eminently  success- 
ful in  proceeding  upon  the  golden  rule,  "  line  upon  line  and 
precept  upon  precept,"  that  he  not  only  achieved  conver- 
sions among  the  more  ignorant  and  uninformed,  but  among 
accomplished  scholars."*  It  follows  from  these  statements, 
and  from  many  more  that  might  be  made,  that  catechetical 
instruction  could  not  have  been  in  earlier  days  that  mere 
mechanical  procedure  which  some  appear  to  think  it. 
"  Sure  I  am,"  says  Bishop  Edmund  Law,  "  catechising  in 
its  original,  true  sense,  implies  something  more  than  a  bare 
running  over  an  old  form,  though  that  consist  of  proper 
questions  and  answers,  and  contain  whatever  is  needful  to 
believe  or  practice. "f 

The  word,  indeed,  to  go  to  the  beginning,  is  a  scriptural 
word,  the  practice  is  a  scriptural  practice.  When  St.  Luke 
declares  his  purpose,  in  writing  to  Theophilus,  to  be,  that 
he  might  know  the  certainty  of  those  things  wherein  he 
was  instructed,  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  is  cate- 
chised-X  When  Apollos  is  spoken  of  as  a  man  instructed 
in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  the  literal  sense  is  catechised.^ 
And  when  St.  Paul  declares  that  he  had  rather  speak  five 
words  with  his  understanding  that  he  might  teach  others, 
than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue,  the  literal 
rendering  is,  that  he  might  catechise  \\  others.  And  ac- 
cordingly, St.  Cyril  says  expressly,  that  "  St.  Paul  preached 
the  Gospel  from  Rome  to  Illyria,  and  taught  at  Rome,  by 
catechising."!!    If  it  be  asked  then,  what  w  e  are  to  under- 

*  Gilly's  Hora  Catechetica-,  pp.  70,  1. 

j-  Dissertation  on  the  nature  and  necessity  of  Catechising. 

*  St.  Luke  i.  4.  §  Acts  xviii.  25.  ||  1  Corinthians  xW.  19. 
1  Catechesis,  xvii,  16— quoted  by  Gilly,  p.  66. 


10 


stand  precisely  by  this  term,  we  answer,  in  the  words  of 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  specially  this, — "  the  knowledge 
of  religion  first  delivered  to  the  ignorant  by  the  Catechist, 
and  then  by  them  repeated  over  and  over  again"* — the 
catechist  being  said  to  instruct,  by  making  the  elements  of 
Christian  doctrine  resound  in  the  ears  of  his  students,  and 
the  Catechumen  being  said  to  be  taught,  by  repeating  the 
words  addressed  to  him,  and  by  answering  questions.  The 
persons  first  catechised,  though  men  in  years,  were  chil- 
dren in  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel — so  that  the  same 
Clement,  after  Paul,  speaks  of  them  as  "  babes  in  Christ," 
and  of  catechetical  instruction  as  "milk,"  being  as  it  were, 
"  the  first  nourishment  of  the  souI."f  It  was  therefore  in 
its  matter  elementary,  and  simple  in  its  style,  brief  and  fa- 
miliar, and  relying  much  for  certainty  of  inculcation  on  its 
frequent  repetitions.  But  it  addressed  the  mind.  It  en- 
gaged the  heart.  It  unfolded  the  whole  plan  of  salvation. 
It  made  Apollos  "mighty  in  the  scriptures."^:  It  could 
not,  therefore,  be  a  mere  set  form.  It  was  not,  therefore, 
matter  for  the  memory  alone.  It  did  not  exhaust  itself  in 
words  and  phrases,  said  by  rote.  In  our  day,  things  are 
changed.  Christianity,  in  name  at  least,  prevails.  The 
catechumens  are  now  children.  But  the  lesson  is  the  same. 
The  object  is  the  same.  The  human  mind  remains  the 
same.  And  the  familiar  teaching  of  the  Catechism,  its 
clear  analysis  of  Scripture,  its  orderly  developement  of 
Christian  doctrine,  its  wholesome  exhortations  to  Christian 
practice,  its  striking  illustrations,  its  direct  appeals,  its 
"line  upon  line,"  and  "precept  upon  precept,"  its  adapta- 

*  Cited  by  Comber,  in  Gilly,  p.  v. 

|  Bishop  Kay's  account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  pp.  444,  5.  4  Acts  xviii,  24,  25. 


20 


tion  to  every  form  of  character  and  every  grade  of  intelli- 
gence, its  variety  and  simplicity,  its  homeliness  and  earnest- 
ness, still  render  it  the  most  effectual  instrument  of  pastoral 
usefulness,  and  still  claim  for  it,  in  its  legitimate  and  pro- 
per exercise,  that  prominent  regard  which,  in  the  primitive 
Church,  in  the  Church  through  which  we  hold  commu- 
nion with  the  Apostles,*  and  in  our  own  Church,  has  ever 
been  assigned  to  it.  "  By  catechising,"  says  Bishop  Law, 
whose  exposition  of  the  nature  of  the  office  we  adopt,  "  I 
mean  not  the  procuring  our  own  Catechism,  or  any  other 
short  explanation  of  Christianity,  to  be  said  a  few  times 
over  by  rote,  nor  the  delivering  any  stated  discourse  thereon, 
(though  these  may  be  of  great  use  in  their  turns,)  but  the 
free,  frequent,  and  familiar  exercising  of  young  persons  in 
it,  till  they  thoroughly  understand,  and  can  express  the 
meaning  of  each  word  and  phrase,  according  to  their  res- 
pective capacities,  experience,  and  degrfe  of  improvement ; 
thus  leading  them  on  gradually  from  sounds  to  sense,  form- 
ing their  thoughts,  and  fixing  their  attention  to  the  reason 
and  relation  of  things  ;  aiding  and  inuring  them  to  reflect 
a  little  on  such  points  as  are  within  their  reach ;  and  ena- 

*  It  would  occupy  much  room  merely  to  cite  the  provisions  by 
which  the  Church  of  England  has  sought  to  enforce  the  primitive 
institution  of  Catechising.  One,  which  owed  its  origin  to  the  judi- 
cious piety  of  that  rare  youth,  the  sixth  Edward,  is  thus  cited  by 
Bishop  Gibson  in  his  Codex  Juris  Ecclesiastici  AngUctmi — "In 
the  Reformatio  Legum  there  is  an  excellent  rule  upon  this  head. 
One  hour  or  more  in  the  afternoon  service,  let  the  parish-priest  take 
up  the  Catechism,  and  give  great  attention  to  the  explanation  of  it ; 
for  a  frequent  exposition  of  the  Catechism  is  of  the  utmost  use  and 
benefit  in  the  Church  of  God.  And  we  wish  this  instruction  to  be 
given  not  only  to  the  children,  but  to  the  young  persons  who  are 
growing  up,  that  they  also  may  be  well  informed  in  the  principles  of 
their  religion,  and  that  the  assiduity  of  the  children  may  be  stimu- 
lated by  their  presence." 


21 


bling  them  at  length  to  give  a  clear  account  of  all  parts  of 
the  Christian  dispensation,  and  become  fully  acquainted 
with  their  duty  both  to  God  and  man.  This  is  the  office 
of  catechising,  which  though  it  may  appear  a  low,  con- 
temptible one,  yet  is  assuredly  an  arduous  task,  and  which 
perhaps  requires  the  greatest  pains  and  skill  of  any  part  of 
the  whole  ministerial  function."* 

2.  In  the  discharge  of  this  great  duty,  thus  denned,  there 
doubtless  may  be  used  variety  of  method,  and  this  with- 
out departure  from  its  proper  purpose  and  intention.  A 
few  suggestions,  the  result  of  much  reflection,  and  confirmed 
in  practice,  will  illustrate  my  own  preference. 

i.  Whatever  helps  the  Catechist  may  use,  the  Church 
Catechism  should  always  be  the  text-book.  There  is  none 
so  good.  There  is  no  other  that  has  authority.  The  use 
of  Catechisms  preliminary  to  it,  and  of  Catechisms  explan- 
atory of  it,  and  of  Catechisms  for  those  of  riper  years,  is 
altogether  unnecessary,  and  tends  to  distract  the  mind. 
Multiply  Catechisms  as  you  may,  there  is  but  one  plan  of 
salvation.  That,  the  Catechism  in  the  Prayer  Book  fully 
and  faithfully  dcvelopes.  The  best  could  do  no  more. 
"  The  country  parson,"  says  godly  Herbert,  "  values  Cat- 
echism highly.  He  useth  and  preferreth  the  ordinary 
Church  Catechism,  partly  for  obedience  to  authority,  partly 
for  uniformity  sake,  that  the  same  common  truths  may 
be  every  where  professed  ;  especially  since  many  remove 
from  parish  to  parish,  who,  like  Christian  soldiers,  are  to 
give  the  word,  and  to  satisfy  the  congregation,  by  their 
Catholic  answers. "f  In  one  respect  it  is  peculiar.  Parts 
of  it  are  level  to  the  comprehension  of  the  simplest  child. 

*  Nature  and  necessity  of  Catechising, 
f  The  Parson  Catechising. 


22 


Parts  of  it,  if  thoroughly  investigated,  would  task  the  lof- 
tiest reach  of  the  most  intellectual  man — places  in  it,  as  an 
ancient  *  writes  of  sacred  Scripture,  where  every  lamb 
may  wade,  other  places  where  an  elephant  must  swim. 
The  utmost  range  is  thus  permitted  to  the  Pastor  in  the 
adaptation  of  it  to  the  several  capacities  of  those  whom  he 
instructs — exacting  of  all,  says  Herbert,  "the  doctrines  of 
the  Catechism  :  of  the  younger  sort  the  very  words ;  of  the 
elder,  the  substance.""|"  Remembering,  we  may  add,  that 
as  the  youngest  soon  will  rank  among  the  elder,  the  elder 
soon  will  pass  beyond  his  reach,  he  cannot  be  diligent 
enough  in  storing  all  their  memories  with  the  words,  in 
imbuing  all  their  hearts  with  the  substance,  of  that  most 
admirable  Christian  manual. 

"  There  are  very  few  human  productions,"  says  one  who 
has  written  admirably  on  this  subject,  "  upon  which  a 
Christian  teacher  can  ground  his  instructions  with  so  much 
confidence,  as  the  Church  Catechism.  The  Roman  Catho- 
lic Catechisms  run  away  into  many  points  of  faith  and 
discipline,  which  have  no  support  whatever  from  the  plain 
words  of  Scripture.  Several  of  the  best  Catechisms  of 
reformed  congregations  are  abstrusely  doctrinal, — others 
are  diffuse  and  lengthened  out  into  treatises  ;  while  our  own 
is  neither  redundant  nor  dogmatical.  It  never  wanders 
from  Scripture,  or  runs  into  nice  distinctions :  it  contains 
that  alone  in  which  all  Christians  are  agreed.  It  raises  no 
scruples,  it  offends  no  prejudices,  and  its  very  brevity 
implies  that  it  leaves  much  to  the  judgment  of  the  parish 
priest,  and  demands  that  he  do  more  than  confine  himself 
to  its  concise  phraseology — that,  taking  its  letter  as  his 


*  Gregory  the  Great. 


f  The  Parson  Catechising. 


23 


guide,  he  make  a  full  and  complete  illustration  of  its  apos- 
tolical lessons.  Hence  the  clergyman  who  commences  his 
catechetical  lectures  with  this  manual  in  his  hand,  sets  out 
in  good  humour  with  all  Christian  men.  Every  body  is 
with  him,  no  man  is  against  him.  Those  who  think  the 
Catechism  too  short,  look  to  him  for  amplification.  Those 
who  fancy  it  requires  some  explanation  are  glad  to  have 
him  for  an  expounder."* 

ii.  Excellent  as  the  Catechism  is,  and  prominent  as  it 
should  be  in  every  plan  of  pastoral  instruction,  it  should 
always  be  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  every  child,  that  it 
is  nothing,  and  of  no  regard,  but  as  it  may  be  proved  by 
Scripture.  While  therefore  its  venerable  text  should  be 
continually  repeated,  analysed,  enlarged  on,  illustrated, 
laid  to  the  heart,  applied  to  all  the  life,  it  should  be  con- 
stantly required  that  every  line  and  word  of  it  be  shown 
to  have  authority  in  Holy  Scripture.  Used  in  this  way, 
the  Catechism  explains  the  Bible,  while  the  Bible  sustains 
the  Catechism.  The  plan  of  salvation  is  developed.  The 
doctrines  of  the  Cross  are  explained.  The  duties  of  life 
are  enforced.  Of  the  whole  counsel  of  God  no  portion  is 
kept  back.  Of  all  that  appertains  to  life  and  godliness  no 
point  is  left  obscure.  Nothing  can  be  more  impressive, 
nothing  can  be  more  interesting  than  an  exercise  like  this. 
The  lucid  order  of  the  Catechism  throws  light  upon  the 
meaning  of  the  sacred  text.  The  sacred  text  gives  unction, 
power  and  life  to  the  instructions  of  the  Catechism.  At 
every  step,  new  confidence  is  gained,  new  beauties  are 
apparent.  The  young  Christian  drinks  conviction  from  the 
first  fountains  of  eternal  truth  ;  and  finds,  with  lively  satis- 

*  Gilly's  Hora;  Catccheticae,  pp.  147, 8. 


24 


faction,  that  every  word  which  has  been  taught  him  by  the 
Church,  has  precedent  and  sanction  in  the  pure  word  of 
God. 

iii.  The  exercise  of  catechising,  thus  guided  by  the  pro- 
vision made  for  it  in  the  Prayer  Book,  with  continual  com- 
parison of  every  point  with  Holy  Writ,  should  also  be  con- 
ducted in  a  constant  reference  to  the  order  and  services  of 
the  Church.  In  this  way,  her  distinctive  features,  the 
authority  and  constitution  of  her  ministry,  the  nature  and 
importance  of  the  sacraments,  the  admirable  arrangement 
of  the  Christian  year,  her  daily  services,  her  solemn  cere- 
monies, her  impressive  rites,  may  all  be  made  familiar  to 
the  children,  commended  to  their  understandings,  made  en- 
gaging to  their  hearts ;  and  shown  to  be  not  less  accordant 
with  the  sacred  warrant  of  the  word  of  God  than  with  the 
dictates  of  man's  reason,  and  the  infirmities,  necessities  and 
sympathies  of  his  immortal  nature.  In  this  way,  objections 
are  answered,  prejudices  mitigated,  ignorance  informed. 
The  relation  of  the  parts  is  shown,  and  the  agreement  of 
the  whole.  The  Church  approves  herself  to  be  what  God 
designed,  the  pillar  and  basis  of  the  truth.*  Her  service 
is,  and  is  seen  to  be,  a  "  reasonable  service ;"  her  worship, 
"  the  beauty  of  holiness,"  commends  itself  to  every  heart, 
and  is,  as  it  is  felt  to  be,  by  every  pious  soul,  a  "  spiritual 
sacrifice,"  acceptable  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

iv.  The  catechising  should  be  "  openly  in  the  Church." 
This  is  the  provision  of  the  rubric.  Of  its  meaning,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  To  catechise  the  children  before  the  con- 
gregation  have  assembled,  or  after  they  have  dispersed,  is 
not  to  comply  with  it — is  to  deprive  many  who  might  be 

*  1  Timothy,  iii.  15. 


25 


profited  by  it  of  the  advantage — is  to  put  its  light  "  under 
a  bushel,"  when  it  should  be  set  up  in  the  candlestick,  and 
give  light  to  all  that  are  in  the  house.  The  disregard  of 
this  injunction  has  tended  very  greatly  to  depreciate  the 
Catechising.  A  thing  done  in  a  corner  is  naturally  sup- 
posed to  be  of  small  importance ;  and  what  a  thing  is 
thought  to  be,  it  commonly  is.  General  interest  has  been 
lost.  Parents  and  guardians  have  seldom  favoured  it  with 
their  presence.  It  has  possessed  nothing  to  render  it  ani- 
mating to  the  Pastor,  or  engaging  to  the  children.  It  has 
become  dull,  formal  work,  without  estimation,  and  with 
but  small  advantage.  In  too  many  cases,  it  has  gone  en- 
tirely out  of  use. 

v.  To  restore  the  catechising  to  its  due  importance,  it 
must  not  only  be  done  openly  in  the  Church,  but,  when  it 
is  done,  it  must  take  the  place  of  the  sermon.  Objections 
will,  I  know,  be  raised  to  this  proposal — that  the  people 
will  complain  of  it — that  it  will  hinder  their  edification — 
that  it  will  make  the  Church  unpopular.  They  are  the 
objections,  I  presume  to  say,  of  those  who  never  made  the 
trial,  or  made  it  partially,  and  without  confidence.  The 
true  inquiry  to  be  made  is,  what  is  right,  and  what  has 
been  experience  ?  It  is  right,  doubtless,  that  "  the  priest's 
lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  that  the  people  should 
seek  the  law  at  his  mouth."  What  the  Scripture  teaches, 
what  the  Church  enjoins,  what  his  best  judgment  recom- 
mends, and  his  conscience  honestly  approves,  he  certainly 
must  do.  And  what  he  makes  it  plain  that  he  so  does,  the 
people  will  as  certainly  allow.  They  know  that  the  chil- 
dren must  be  instructed.  They  know  that  the  Church  re- 
quires that  he  should  catechise  them  openly  before  the 
congregation.    They  know  that  for  this  service  time  must 


26 


be  allowed.  They  know  that  to  add  it  to  a  sermon  will 
exhaust  his  strength,  while  it  fatigues  the  children,  and  is 
wearisome  to  them.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  the  people 
blind  to  these  considerations,  or  deaf  to  reason  and  to  duty. 
They  are  alive  to  both.  They  confide  in  the  judgment  of 
him  who  ministers  to  them  in  holy  things.  They  are  pre- 
disposed to  the  approval  of  his  godly  judgments.  Let 
him  convince  them  that  he  seeks  not  theirs,  but  them;  let 
them  be  satisfied  that  he  would  save  their  children  and 
themselves ;  and  they  will  object  to  nothing  that  he  proposes, 
they  will  withhold  nothing  that  he  requires, — be  it  con- 
sistent only  with  the  Scripture  and  the  Church.  Of  the 
good  shepherd,  that  goeth  before  his  sheep,  the  saying  of 
the  Saviour  always  will  be  true — calling  his  own  sheep  by 
name,  and  leading  them  out,  his  sheep  will  follow  him, 
because  they  know  his  voice.*  And  such  is  the  lesson  of 
experience.  Where  the  catechising  has  been  made  a  pub- 
lic exercise,  and  diligently  administered,  it  has  secured  ac- 
ceptance with  the  people,  and  approved  itself  a  benefit  to 
all.  Bishop  Sanderson,  when  he  was  a  parochial  Cler- 
gyman, used  to  spend  an  hour  at  evening  in  the  Church 
Catechism  :  "  whereat,"  says  one  of  his  biographers,  "  the 
parents  and  elder  sort  were  wont  to  be  present,  and  from 
whence  they  reaped  greater  benefit  than  from  his  sermons ; 
the  great  principles  of  religion  working  more  powerfully 
upon  them  than  his  discourses  and  enlargements. "j"  "  I 
never  yet,"  says  Bishop  Fleetwood,  "  heard  catechising  in 
the  Church,  where  I  did  not  see  the  oldest  and  the  gravest 
people  attend  as  seriously  as  any  else;  and  I  dare  say 
they  were  as  much  edified  and  more  pleased  to  be  so  than 

*  John,  T.  4. 

■j-  Special  Remarks  in  the  Life  of  Dr.  Sanderson,  p.  24. 


\ 


~7 


the  elder."*  "  In  most  country  parishes,"  says  the  present 
Bishop  of  London,  "  a  catechetical  examination  of  young 
persons,  interspersed  with  judicious  illustrations  and  re- 
marks, will  be  of  greater  benefit  to  the  congregation  than 
a  second  sermon."")"  My  own  experience  in  every  respect 
confirms  the  statement  of  these  high  authorities.  Every 
where,  the  testimony  is,  that  the  catechising  at  the  visi- 
tation transcends  in  interest  and  in  profit  the  usual  sermon. 
Once  in  a  month,  at  least,  in  every  parish — as  I  have  prac- 
tised with  entire  acceptance  and  to  great  advantage  in  my 
own — I  most  decidedly  advise  the  substitution.  I  am  much 
disposed  to  think  with  Bishop  Blomfield,  that  it  were  well, 
if  it  were  weekly.  I  only  differ  from  him,  in  believing, 
that  in  city,  equally  with  country  parishes,  the  practice  is 
not  only  feasible,  but  altogether  to  be  commended. 

vi.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  suggest,  that  in  conducting 
the  catechetical  exercise,  distinctness,  simplicity,  direct- 
ness, familiarity,  variety  are  elements  essential  to  success. 
Distinctness  is  essential  to  the  hearing,  first,  and  then  to 
the  understanding,  of  the  exercise.  To  ensure  the  hearing 
of  the  answers,  as  well  as  of  the  questions,  the  minister 
must  often  repeat  them,  as  they  fall  from  the  weak  voice 
of  his  little,  timid  pupil:  and  this,  if  it  be  connected  with 
a  word  or  two,  in  confirmation,  if  it  be  right,  in  correction, 
if  it  be  wrong ;  sometimes  by  way  of  explanation,  some- 
times by  way  of  enlargement, — incorporating  as  it  were 
the  teacher  with  the  scholars, — will  give  additional  weight 
and  value  to  the  lesson.  That  its  whole  tenour  may  be 
understood,  as  well  as  heard,  the  questions  must  be  short, 
the  points  precise,  the  order  natural — the  interrogatory  so 


*  Works,  p.  467.  j  Primary  Charge,  p.  29. 


28 


framed,  that  if  the  expected  answer  be  not  in  the  words  of 
the  Catechism  itself,  it  may  be  in  the  fewest  words,  con- 
nected obviously  with  what  precedes,  suggesting  evidently 
that  which  is  to  follow. — Simplicity  of  matter  and  of  ar- 
rangement is  a  most  important  quality  in  catechising.  Let 
a  single  train  of  thought  be  well  arranged  in  the  instruc- 
tor's mind,  before  he  commence  the  exercise.  Multiplicity 
of  subjects  divides,  complexity  of  statement  will  confuse, 
the  attention  of  the  learner.  A  single  doctrine  or  a  single 
duty,  with  its  connections  and  its  consequences,  will  often 
furnish  matter  for  a  lesson.  The  progress  made  by  weeks 
or  months,  from  step  to  step,  completes  in  time  the  whole 
great  subject,  and  yet  never  overtasks  the  youthful  mind. 
A  single  truth,  a  single  precept,  understood,  inculcated, 
laid  to  the  heart,  will  fix  itself  there,  and,  with  the  Spirit's 
gracious  aid,  will  live  and  grow  there.  Another  and 
another  is  presented  and  enforced.  The  food  received  is 
well  digested.  The  soul  is  fed  and  nurtured.  "  The  sin- 
cere milk  of  the  word  "  gives  gradually  place  to  the  "  strong 
meat."  The  "  babe  in  Christ"  increases  "  in  wisdom  and 
in  stature,"  and  grows  "  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." — To  this  end,  directness  and  fa- 
miliarity must  come  in  aid  of  distinctness  and  simplicity. 
The  Christian  Pastor  must  be  as  a  father  among  his  chil- 
dren. He  must  know  them  all  by  name.  He  must  ar- 
rest the  individual  eye.  He  must  address  the  individual 
heart.  To  do  this,  he  must  come  down  to  the  level  of 
every  age  and  capacity.  "  He  is  not  catechising,"  says 
one  who  understands  the  subject  well, "  when  he  ceases  to 
be  perfectly  intelligible,  easy  and  familiar."*    "  He  must 

•  Gilly's  Hone  Catccheticse,  p.  148. 


\ 


29 


descend,"  says  Bishop  Sumner,  "  from  the  high  and  lofty 
tone  oflanguage,  to  walk  in  the  humble  terms  of  Scripture." 
"  He  must  abound  in  interrogations  and  direct  addresses, 
which,  however  the  rules  of  composition  may  condemn  in 
writing,  the  rules  of  nature  sanction  and  require  in  speak- 
ing."* The  great  desideratum  is  to  put  the  children  at 
their  ease;  and  this  they  will  be  if  they  feel  that  they  are 
talking  with  a  friend.  Let  your  children  see  that  you 
take  pleasure  in  instructing  them.  Let  them  see  that  what 
you  do,  you  do  from  love.  Let  them  feel  that  what  you 
love  in  them  is  their  immortal  souls,  for  which  the  Saviour 
died;  and  lead  them  thus  to  lay  lo  heart,  while  yet  the 
heart  is  young  and  soft,  the  unction  of  that  blood  which 
only  cleanses  from  all  sin. — Finally,  let  the  subject  be  re- 
lieved, the  exercise  diversified,  the  attention  roused  and 
kept  alive,  by  a  continual  variety — by  sudden  and  abrupt 
interrogations,  by  following  out  the  train  of  thought  which 
some  unlooked  for  answer  may  suggest,  by  availing  your- 
selves of  the  infinitude  of  easy,  natural  and  graceful  diver- 
sions from  the  main  argument,  which  the  laws  of  associa- 
tion will  constantly  supply,  by  direct  appeals,  by  searching 
questions,  by  comparison  and  contrast,  by  allusions  to  the 

*  Apostolical  preaching,  p.  1 1.  "  The  concern  of  a  parish  minis- 
ter," says  Archbishop  Seeker,  "  is  to  make  the  lowest  of  his  congre- 
gation apprehend  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  repentance,  faith  and 
obedience ;  and  to  labour,  that,  when  they  know  the  way  of  life, 
they  walk  in  it.  If  he  doth  not  these  things  for  them,  he  doth  no- 
thing ;  and  it  requires  much  consideration  to  find  out  the  proper 
methods  of  doing  them,  and  much  pains  and  patience  to  try  one  after 
another.  Smooth  discourses,  composed  partly  in  flowing  sentences 
which  they  cannot  follow  to  the  end,  containing  little  that  awakes 
their  drowsy  attention,  little  that  enforces  on  them  plainly  and  home 
what  they  must  do  to  be  saved,  leave  them  as  ignorant  and  unin- 
formed as  ever,  and  only  lull  them  into  a  fatal  security.  Therefore 
bring  yourselves  doiun  to  their  level." — Second  Charge. 


30 


incidents  and  characters  of  Scripture,  by  illustrations  from 
the  services  and  order  of  the  Church,  by  suffering  the  little 
learner  sometimes  to  go  wrong,  that  he  may  correct  him- 
self, by  directing  the  honest  answers  of  the  children  to  the 
exposure  and  reproof  of  prevailing  error,  whether  in  faith 
or  practice,  and  by  casual  remarks,  incidental  inferences, 
addresses  to  children,  to  teachers,  to  parents,  to  the  whole 
congregation — in  a  word,  by  whatever  the  occasion  natu- 
rally suggests,  that  can  exercise  the  mind  or  engage  the 
hearts  of  the  children  in  "  the  doctrine  which  is  according 
to  godliness,"  and  at  the  same  time  quicken  the  recollec- 
tion of  those  of  riper  years,  impress  them  with  a  just  sense 
of  their  condition  and  its  responsibilities,  and  provoke  them 
to  a  holy  emulation. 

3.  Of  the  final  topic  of  the  Charge,  the  manifold  ad- 
vantages of  public  Catechising,  1  have  inevitably  antici- 
pated much.  In  regard  to  those  which  still  remain  unno- 
ticed— so  admirable  for  usefulness  is  the  primitive  institution 
— the  difficulty  is,  from  the  great  number,  which  present 
themselves,  to  select  the  few  which  time  and  our  conve- 
nience allow.  I  shall  attempt  no  more  at  present  than  to 
show,  by  the  enumeration  of  some  leading  benefits,  its 
great  importance  in  these  two  relations — as  strengthening 
the  endearing  bond  which  should  unite  the  Pastor  with  his 
people,  and  as  a  powerful  instrument,  in  his  hand,  of 
Christian  education. 

i.  I  know  not  how  the  nature  of  that  bond  which  should 
unite  the  Pastor  with  the  people  can  be  more  fully  and 
more  clearly  stated,  than  I  find  it  in  a  Charge  of  the  pre- 
sent Primate  of  all  England,  when  diocesan  of  London. 
"  The  allegiance  you  owe  to  the  Church,"  he  says,  «  obli- 
ges you  in  every  particular  of  your  professional  conduct 


31 


to  look  to  her  for  direction,  and  where  she  either  affords 
no  definite  rule,  or  custom  has  superseded  her  original 
practice,  to  yield  substantial  obedience  at  least  by  taking 
her  principles  for  your  guide.  Her  wisdom  indeed  might 
of  itself  command  our  attention,  if  her  authority  were 
less.  In  her  Canons,  which  are  a  body  of  laws  for  the 
general  regulation  of  her  discipline,  we  find  many  directions 
of  the  greatest  importance  which  ought  to  be  familiar  to 
the  parish  priest.  Her  liturgical  formularies  not  only  sup- 
ply  a  collection  of  prayers,  instructions  and  offices,  adapted 
to  all  the  solemnities  of  religious  worship,  to  the  exigencies 
of  every  age  and  every  condition,  to  the  uses  of  every  day, 
to  all  the  contingencies  of  life;  but  virtually  establish  a 
system  of  parochial  discipline  conceived  on  an  accurate 
notion  of  the  relation  between  the  pastor  and  his  flock, 
designed  to  connect  them  by  a  regular  intercourse,  and  to 
direct  the  conduct  of  both  parties  in  the  performance  of 
their  respective  duties.  As  the  ground-work  of  this  plan, 
it  is  her  peculiar  object  to  bring  the  parishioner  from  his 
earliest  days  into  immediate  contact  with  his  spiritual 
teacher  and  guide.  In  the  tenour  of  the  rubrics  annexed 
to  the  Catechism,  and  the  offices  of  Baptism  and  Confir- 
mation compared  with  the  several  Canons  relating  to  the 
same  points,  we  have  connected  indications  of  this  design. 
Whether  we  look  to  the  dedication  of  the  infant  to  God 
by  the  ministry  of  the  priest,  to  the  profession  of  faith  and 
obedience  which  is  made  in  his  presence  by  the  Sponsors, 
or  to  the  exhortation  which  designates  their  duties,  and 
specifies  the  instruction  to  be  given  to  the  child, — we  dis- 
cern the  pervading  intention  of  placing  the  rising  generation 
in  the  view  of  the  minister,  of  giving  them  in  thetenderest 
infancy  the  advantage  of  his  paternal  protection,  and 


32 


sending  them  to  the  Church  to  be  publicly  instructed  by 
him  in  faith  and  morals,  till  he  is  so  well  satisfied  with  their 
proficiency  as  to  recommend  them  for  Confirmation  to  the 
Bishop."*  This  is  an  admirable  statement.  It  involves 
an  argument  powerful  indeed  to  commend  the  Church  to 
universal  acceptation.  It  presents  a  beautiful  and  touching 
illustration  of  the  Saviour's  pitying  love  for  men,  in  pro- 
viding for  them, — by  an  office  which  himself  ordained,  per- 
petuates, and  has  declared  that  he  will  bless, — that,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  they  shall  possess,  in  him  who  is  their 
minister  in  holy  things,  a  .guide,  companion,  friend  and 
father. 

To  strengthen  and  confirm  this  holy  bond  of  pastoral 
love,  the  institution  of  the  Catechism  gives  powerful  aid 
by  its  just  influence  with  children.  The  hearts  of  little 
children  are  soft  and  warm.  They  take  impressions  easily, 
and  hold  them  long.  The  pastoral  eye,  the  pastoral  voice, 
the  pastoral  smile,  makes  an  impression  then,  which  time 
will  not  efface.  Gathering  the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and 
carrying  them  in  his  bosom,  bringing  back  that  which  was 
driven  away,  and  seeking  again  that  which  was  lost,  the 
good  shepherd  commends  himself  not  only,  but  his  mes- 
sage, and  his  Master,  to  their  favour.  The  love  they  feel 
for  him  insensibly  attaches  to  his  work,  and  he  wins  souls 
for  Christ,  at  the  time  when  they  are  fittest  for  his  service, 
and  in  the  way  which  is  most  certain  to  secure  them  to 
him  forever. — Nor  is  this  all.    To  gain  the  parent's  heart, 

*  Charge  to  the  Clergy  of  the  diocese  of  London,  1822,  third  edi- 
tion, pp.  20 — 22. — I  take  this  occasion  to  suggest  the  obvious  im- 
portance of  using  every  mode  of  influence  to  retain  the  cider  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  the  congregation  in  the  habit  of  Catechising.  It 
is  for  their  good.  It  makes  the  exercise  more  interesting.  It  knits 
the  pastoral  bond.    It  harmonizes  and  strengthens  the  Church. 


33 


the  surest  process  is  to  win  the  child's. .  There  is  no  bond 
so  strong  as  nature  knits  when  sanctified  by  grace.  There 
is  no  compensation  of  God's  providence  so  beautiful,  as 
when  the  child  repays  the  debt  of  life,  by  leading  them  who 
gave  it  to  the  fountain,  where  men  drink,  and  live  forever. 
And  angels,  could  so  base  a  passion  touch  their  sinless 
souls,  might  well  be  thought  to  envy  him  whose  pastoral 
influence  God  has  blessed  to  uses  so  divine.  And  when 
the  little  child,  by  visits  such  as  angels  ply  from  heaven  to 
earth",  has  led  the  thoughtless  parent  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
and  round  the  sacred  hearth  the  pious  circle  meet  to  read 
the  word  of  God,  or  pour  the  fervent  prayer,  there  is  no 
dearer  bond  on  earth  than  that  which  love  and  gratitude 
then  knit  about  the  pastoral  crook,  and  a  new  chaplet  then 
is  twined  in  heaven,  to  grace  the  pastoral  crown. 

ii.  Nor,  less  effectual  is  the  public  Catechising,  as  an 
instrument  of  Christian  education,  than  in  its  influence  on 
the  pastoral  bond.  To  suppose  that  the  capacity  to»  com- 
prehend' sermons,  or  even  to  understand  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, can  be  had,  without  some  previous  preparation,  is  an 
obvious  error.  For  want  of  elementary  knowledge,  much 
preaching  is  in  vain.  We  take  for  granted  that  the  people 
know  much  more  than  they  have  ever  had  the  opportunity 
to  learn.  Hence  the  necessity  of  Catechising  to  supply 
the  first  principles,  to  familiarize  with  terms  and  forms, 
to  discipline  the  understanding  and  prepare  the  heart. 
"There  is  no  employment  in  the  world,"  says  Bishop 
Hall,  "wherein  God's  minister's  can  employ  themselves  so 
profitably  as  in  this  of  plain  and  familiar  Catechism.  What 
is  a  building  without  a  foundation?  If  this  ground  work 
be  not  surely  laid,  all  their  divine  discourses  lie  but  upon 


34 


shifting  sand."*  "  Great  scholars,"  said  Archbishop  Usher, 
"  possibly  may  think  that  it  stands  not  so  well  with  their 
credit  to  stoop  thus  low,  and  to  spend  so  much  of  their 
time  in  teaching  these  rudiments  and  first  principles  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ.  But  they  should  consider  that  the  lay- 
ing of  the  foundation  skilfully,  as  it  is  the  matter  of  greatest 
importance  in  the  whole  building,  so  it  is  the  very  master- 
piece of  the  wisest  builder."f  And  Bishop  Wilson,  in  his 
primitive  administration  of  the  diocese  of  Sodor  and  Man, 
having  established  Catechising  as  the  general  usage  of  the 
Churches,  after  prayers  in  the  afternoon,  instead  of  a  ser- 
mon, refused  permission,  in  a  single  instance,  to  depart 
from  this  arrangement,  on  the  ground  that  he  considered 
it  of  more  use  io  the  souls  both  of  the  learned  and  the  igno- 
rant than  the  very  best  sermon  from  the  pulpit.  And  in  a 
Charge  delivered  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  he  states  his 
Opinion,  as  "a  truth  not  to  be  questioned,  that  the  plainest 
sermon  from  the  pulpit  will  not  be  understood,  nor  profit  any 
who  has  not  been  well  instructed  in  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity contained  in  the  Church  Catechism."  "These," 
he  continues,  "are  foundation  principles,  and  such  as  every 
pastor  of  souls  is  obliged  to  explain,  as  he  hopes  ever  to 
do  good  by  his  other  sermons  and  labours.  We  say  to 
explain,  not  only  in  set  discourses  from  the  pulpit,  but  in  a 
plain  familiar  manner,  where  questions  may  be  asked,  and 
things  explained,  so  as  both  old  and  young  may  be  edified. 
Preaching  will  always  be  our  duty,  but  of  little  use,  to 
those  who  understand  not  the  meaning  of  the  words  which 
we  make  use  of  in  our  sermons,  as,  God  knows,  too  many 

*  The  Peace-maker,  section  2 — Works,  viii.  90. 
■(■  Sermon  before  King  James  I. 


\ 


35 

must  be  supposed  to  do  for  want  of  being  instructed  in 
their  younger  years." — Now  against  the  evil  thus  earnestly 
deprecated  by  one,  than  whom  there  never  was  a  wiser  or 
better  man,  the  office  of  Catechising  presents  a  double 
barrier — first,  as  it  makes  the  learners  intimately  familiar 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  then  with  the  Scriptures  as  re- 
ceived and  set  forth  in  the  Church.  The  Scriptures  are 
the  truth,  containing  all  things  necessary  for  salvation. — 
The  Church  is  the  ground  and  pillar  of  the  truth — on  which 
it  rests,  by  which  it  is  sustained  and  guarded,  from  which 
it  is  presented  to  mankind,  in  due  connection  with  the  min- 
istry, the  ordinances,  the  institutions  and  the  worship  of 
the  Apostles.  And  the  true  use  and  value  of  her  catechet- 
ical instructions  is  well  stated  by  the  last  biographer  of 
our  illustrious  Hobart — who  was  himself  not  only  a  great 
admirer  of  this  good  old  form  of  teaching,  but  a  great  friend 
also  to  the  old-fashioned  mode  of  catechising  in  the  Church 
— as  designed  to  attach  her  members,  "  by  the  power  of 
early  habit,  to  her  doctrines,  her  discipline,  and  her  wor- 
ship ;  making  them  not  theologians  but  Christians,  and 
not  Christians  in  a  vague  and  general  sense,  but  Christians 
in  the  Church  :  recognizing  in  what  it  teaches  the  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel ;  in  the  sacraments  which  it  administers  the 
covenanted  means  of  grace;  in  its  ministry,  a  divine  com- 
mission from  Christ  and  his  Apostles;  and  in  its  services 
a  rational  and  heart-felt  worship  offered  to  Almighty  God."* 
It  will  not  need  much  demonstration  to  establish  from 
all  this  the  inference,  that  Catechising  tends  greatly  to  shut 
out  error  from  the  Church,  and  to  promote  integrity  of 
doctrine.    "  With  respect  to  the  catechetical  institution  of 

•  McVickar's  Professional  Years  of  Hobart,  p.  71. 


36 


youth,"  says  Bishop  Jcbb,  "  I  would  remind  you  that  it 
was  the  primitive  method  ;  employed  by  the  Apostles  and 
their  immediate  followers,  and  in  after  ages  by  the  whole 
succession  of  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  for  train- 
ing up  and  organizing  the  community  of  Christians  in 
sound  principles  of  faith,  in  the  love  of  God  and  man,  and 
in  purity  of  life  and  conversation.  It  is  observable  accord- 
ingly, that  in  exact  proportion  as  Catechising  has  been 
practised  or  neglected,  the  public  faith  and  morals  have 
been  seen  to  flourish  or  decline  ;"  "  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say,  that  next  to  an  established  liturgy,  and  beyond  all 
prescribed  confessions  of  faith,  the  single  ordinance  of  cate- 
chetical institution  has,  under  Providence,  been  the  great 
stay  and  support  throughout  Christendom  of  orthodox  un- 
wavering Catholicity."* 

The  benefit  of  Catechising,  designed  especially  for  chil- 
dren and  young  persons,  runs  over  and  does  good  to  all 
the  congregation.  This  is  expressed  with  great  simplicity 
by  holy  Herbert,  in  his  Country  Parson.  "  He  requires 
all  to  be  present  at  Catechising :  first  for  the  authority  of 
the  work ;  secondly,  that  parents  or  masters,  as  they  hear 
the  answers  prove,  may,  when  they  come  home,  cither 
commend  or  reprove,  either  reward  or  punish ;  thirdly, 
that  those  of  the  elder  sort,  who  are  not  well  grounded, 
may  then,  by  an  honourable  way,  take  occasion  to  be 
better  instructed ;  fourthly,  that  those  who  are  well-grown 
in  the  knowledge  of  religion,  may  examine  their  grounds, 
review  their  errors,  and  by  occasion  of  both  enlarge  their 
meditations."!  "  By-standers  of  all  degrees  of  attainment 
take  an  interest  in  observing  how  the  scroll  of  human 

*  Primary  Charge.  f  Parson  Catechising. 


.37 


nature  is  unfolded  by  this  exercise.  They  are  pleased  in 
seeing  the  effects  which  religious  doctrine  has  upon  youth- 
ful minds  and  hearts — in  listening  to  replies  which  display 
the  different  dispositions  and  capacities  of  children — in 
witnessing  the  development  of  character  and  genius — and 
in  comparing  their  own  religious  advancement  and  acquire- 
ments with  those  of  the  juvenile  circle  before  them.  Many 
of  my  congregation  have  made  no  secret  of  confessing 
that  they  could  not  answer  questions  proposed  as  well  as 
the  children  have  done,  and  that  they  have  been  thankful 
for  the  opportunity  of  picking  up  information  without  the 
shame  or  the  trouble  of  asking  for  it.  They  have  made 
a  still  more  important  acknowledgment — that  they  have 
taken  kindly  bints  and  rebukes  which  were  aimed  at  them 
through  younger  marks,  when  a  direct  reproof  would  have 
been  intolerable."  "  The  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  thus 
triumphs  unexpectedly  over  the  wisdom  of  the  wise;  and 
praise  is  perfected  out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  suck- 
lings."* 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  Catechising  so  administered 
will  supersede  the  Sunday  School.  I  answer,  no,  it  will 
improve  and  elevate  it.  The  Sunday  School  system  is  the 
application  of  the  great  principle  of  division  of  labour  to 
the  arduous  work  of  pastoral  instruction.  The  Teachers 
of  the  Sunday  School  are  thus  the  Pastor's  deputies — his 
constant  supervision,  and  personal  direction  of  the  whole 
machinery,  being  indispensable  not  only  to  its  working  well, 
but  to  his  faithful  discharge  of  his  great  trust.  The  Cate- 
chising supplies  the  Pastor  with  an  admirable  test  of  the 
faithfulness  of  the  Teachers  and  of  the  improvement  of 

*  Gilly,  Horse  CatecheticE,  150,  71. 
4 


38 


the  Scholars.  It  is  his  touchstone,  to  try  them,  if  they  be 
sound  in  doctrine,  if  they  understand  what  they  read,  if 
they  grow  in  grace. — Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  a  nursery  of 
teachers.  The  Church  has  suffered  much  from  teachers 
that  had  need  to  learn.  The  religious  instruction  of  the 
young  has  been  intrusted  to  those  who  were  themselves 
deficient  in  the  first  principles  of  Christian  knowledge. 
Another  age  must  reap,  it  must  be  feared,  the  bitter  harvest 
that  has  been  sown  in  this.  The  remedy  is  to  be  found 
in  the  adoption  of  the  mode  of  catechetical  instruction.  Of 
those  who  are  so  trained  up,  it  will  be  true,  as  of  the 
youthful  Timothy,  that  from  children  they  have  known  the 
Scriptures.  Rooted  and  grounded  in  the  faith,  they  may 
be  trusted,  under  the  pastoral  direction,  to  establish  others. 
Uniform  in  doctrine  and  in  practice,  built  up  as  living 
stones  upon  the  sure  foundation,  the  Church  of  Christ  will 
thus  be  reared,  "  an  holy  temple,  acceptable  to  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

It  is  a  fact  most  worthy  to  be  noticed,  says  Shepherd,  in 
his  Elucidation  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  that "  how- 
ever individuals  or  societies  have  differed  in  other  points, 
on  the  utility  and  necessity  of  Catechising  all  have  agreed 
— ancients  and  moderns ;  Europeans,  Asiatics  and  Afri- 
cans ;  Greeks  and  Latins ;  Papists  and  Protestants ;  Lu- 
therans and  Calvinists ;  the  Church  of  England  and  Dis- 
senters. Luther  in  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  wrote 
two  Catechisms ;  and  he  assures  us  that  Catechising 
afforded  him  more  delight  than  any  other  ministerial 
duty."  The  Church  of  Rome  makes  diligent  and  most 
effectual  use  of  its  instructions.  The  Council  of  Trent, 
in  the  preface  to  their  Catechism,  bear  powerful,  though 
reluctant  testimony  to  the  value  of  that  office — "  the  age 


\ 


39 


is  sadly  sensible  what  mischief  they  (the  Protestants)  have 
done  the  Church  of  Rome,  not  only  by  their  tongues,  but 
especially  by  those  writings  called  Catechisms."  To  Cate- 
chising, Baxter,  the  great  Nonconformist,  attributed  much 
of  his  success  at  Kidderminster.  "  When  I  came  thither 
first,  there  was  about  one  family  in  a  street  that  worship- 
ped God,  and  called  upon  his  name ;  and  when  I  came 
away,  there  were  some  streets,  where  there  was  not  past 
one  family  in  the  side  of  a  street  that  did  not  so,  and  that 
did  not,  by  professing  serious  godliness,  give  us  hopes  of 
their  sincerity.  And  those  families  which  were  the  worst, 
being  inns  and  alehouses,  usually  some  person  in  each 
house  did  seem  to  be  religious.  When  I  set  upon  a  per- 
sonal conference  with  each  family,  and  catechising  them, 
there  were  very  few  in  all  the  town  that  did  refuse  to 
come."*  And  of  Eliot,  the  Indian  Missionary,  who  was 
indefatigable  in  Catechising,  it  is  said  that  "  he  left  a  well 
principled  people  behind  him." 

The  institution  of  Catechising,  so  commended  by  the 
wisest  and  the  best  that  have  adorned  and  blessed  the 
Church  of  Christ,  fell  for  a  season  into  disregard-  It  is 
among  the  signs  of  the  times  that  give  best  promise  of  a 
brighter  age,  that  in  every  quarter  attention  to  it  has  lately 
been  revived.  Christians  of  every  name,  with  self-reproach 
for  their  past  negligence,  resume  the  instructions  of  the 
Catechism.  I  need  not  tell  you,  reverend  brethren,  how 
highly  I  commend  their  wisdom.  I  need  not  tell  you  how 
greatly  I  desire  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  ordinance  to 
its  primitive  relations.  It  is  grateful  to  me  to  know,  that 
in  these  views  I  do  but  sympathize  with  my  revered  pre- 

*  Life  and  Times. 


40 


decessor,  who,  in  two  successive  Charges,  urged  upon  you 
with  conclusive  earnestness  the  same  important  subject.* 
I  rejoice  to  see  that  every  year  confirms  the  wisdom  of  this 
course.  I  fondly  trust  that  in  this  diocese  the  Church  may 
one  day  be  restored,  in  this,  not  only,  but  in  other  points, 
to  the  pure  pattern  of  primitive  observance.  I  put  on 
record,  in  the  expressive  words  of  Bishop  Hall,  the  strong 
conclusions  of  my  personal  experience — "  the  most  useful 
of  all  preaching  is  catechetical ;  this  being  the  ground,  the 
other  raiseth  the  walls  and  roofe — this  informs  the  judg- 
ment, that  stirs  up  the  affections.  What  good  use  is  there 
of  those  affections  that  runne  before  the  judgment?  Or 
of  those  walls  that  want  a  foundation  ?  For  my  part,  I 
have  spent  the  greater  halfe  of  my  life  in  this  station  of 
our  holy  service :  I  thank  God  not  unpainfully  nor  unprofi- 
tably.  But  there  is  no  one  thing  of  which  I  repent  so 
much,  as  not  to  have  spent  more  houres  in  this  public 
exercise  of  catechisme ;  in  regard  whereof  I  would  quarrel 
with  my  very  sermons,  and  wish  that  a  great  part  had 
been  exchanged  for  this  preaching  conference.""!" 

My  reverend  brethren,  the  "  little  children  "  whom  the 
Church  commends  to  our  assiduous  care  will  soon  be  men 
and  women.  Shall  they  "  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  know- 
ledge and  love  of  God,"  and  so  be  pillars  in  his  house  ? 
Or  shall  they  be  left  to  the  evil  bias  of  their  fallen  nature, 
and  to  the  evil  influence  of  "  the  instruction  which  causeth 
to  err,"  and  so  be  wretched  here,  and  lost  hereafter? 
What  we  do  for  "little  children,"  we  do  for  future  genera- 
tions, we  do  for  eternity.  It  is  ours  to  mould  their  character ; 

•  See  Bishop  Croes'  Charges,  in  1819,  and  in  1829. 
f  Dedication  of  "  The  old  Religion,"  Works  ix,  p.  224. 


41 


and  so  to  order,  under  God,  the  character  of  the  community. 
It  is  ours  to  win  them,  if  it  so  please  him,  for  the  Lord ;  and 
so  to  do  our  part  in  preparing  for  the  Saviour,  what  he  pur- 
chased with  his  own  blood,  "  a  glorious  Church,  not  having 
spot  nor  wrinkle  nor  any  such  thing."  Shall  we  be  wanting 
to  such  responsibilities  ?  Shall  we  be  negligent  of  such  op- 
portunities ?  Difficulties  doubtless  there  are  and  discourage- 
ments ;  and  because  we  cannot  do  in  all  respects  precisely 
as  we  would,  and  precisely  when  we  would,  we  are  tempted 
sometimes  to  give  up  the  effort  in  despair.  But  discourage- 
ments and  difficulties  are  among  the  tokens  that  the  work 
we  are  engaged  in  is  of  God.  Discouragements  and  diffi- 
culties are  a  part  of  that  discipline  by  which  the  Lord 
would  harden  us,  and  strengthen  us  to  do  him  better  ser- 
vice. In  the  cause  of  Christ,  for  the  glory  of  his  Church, 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  our  kind,  what  is  there  that  we 
cannot  bear,  and  what,  with  God  to  help  us,  that  we  can- 
not do?  Remembering  that  the  work  is  his,  that  the 
strength  is  his,  that  the  reward  is  his,  be  it  ours  to  give 
ourselves  wholly  up  to  do  and  bear  his  will.  Who  are 
we  that  we  should  be  God's  fellow-workers  in  establishing 
the  kingdom  of  his  Son  !  How  unworthy  of  that  holy  fel- 
lowship, if  we  are  not  prepared  in  all  things,  to  die  or  live 
for  its  accomplishment !  How  animating  the  assurance  of 
that  reward  in  heaven,  which — not  according  to  our  desert, 
beloved  brethren,  but  according  to  our  desire — shall  crown 
and  overpay  our  utmost  efforts  to  do  the  will  of  God ! 

My  reverend  brethren,  there  is  one  point  of  pastoral  duty, 
so  important  to  the  influence  of  our  office,  so  absolutely 
indispensable  to  the  success  of  all  your  efforts  in  the  care 
of"  little  children,"  and  yet  so  apt  to  be  neglected,  or  per- 
formed imperfectly,  that  I  feel  bound  in  the  most  solemn 
4* 


P 


42 


manner  to  urge  it  here  and  now  upon  your  notice.  To 
have  an  influence  with  little  children,  you  must  domesti- 
cate yourselves  among  them.  A  stranger  cannot  gain 
their  love.  The  pastor  who  goes  in  and  out  among  them, 
who  calls  them  by  their  names,  who  is  among  them  as  a 
father — he  gains  their  confidence,  he  enshrines  himself 
within  their  hearts.  Nor  is  it  only  for  their  sakes  that  I 
commend  and  urge  the  duty  of  pastoral  visitation.  To 
"  turn  the  hearts  of  the  children  to  the  fathers,  and  of  the 
fathers  to  the  children,"  is  a  work,  for  which  one  day  in 
seven  will  not  suffice.  Though  you  "  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  angels,"  if  you  do  not  follow  up  the  lessons  of 
the  pulpit,  "  from  house  to  house,"  among  your  people, 
your  labour  will  too  often  be  in  vain.  You  must  add  to 
the  authority  of  the  teacher  the  influence  of  the  friend. 
You  must  watch  for  opportunity,  lay  wait  for  souls,  and 
take  them  with  a  holy  guile.  "  If  you  would  have  access 
to  a  man's  heart,"  said  that  shrewd  observer,  Richard  Cecil, 
"  you  must  go  into  his  house."  And  it  is  so.  You  take 
him  by  the  hand.  You  sit  by  his  hearth.  You  are  par- 
taker at  his  board.  You  are  at  home  with  him,  and  you 
enable  him  to  feel  at  home  with  you.  You  gain  his  con- 
fidence. You  touch  the  electric  chain  of  sympathy.  You 
possess  yourself  of  his  affections.  You  draw  him  with  "  the 
cords  of  a  man." — My  reverend  brethren,  you  underrate 
what  I  must  call  your  potential  influence  with  your  people, 
and  which  a  little  more  of  pastoral  familiarity  would  render 
actual  and  effectual.  You  do  not  know  how  much  they 
reverence  your  office.  You  do  not  know  how  well  dis- 
posed they  are  to  love  your  persons.  You  do  not  know 
how  much  they  long  to  speak  with  you  "  as  a  man  speak- 
eth  with  his  friend ;"  and  how  many  times  the  smoking 


43 


flax,  that  at  a  favourable  moment  might  have  kindled  into 
flame,  has  been  put  out  for  want  of  opportunity.  Every 
where,  my  reverend  brethren,  I  receive  the  liveliest  evi- 
dence of  the  people's  approbation  of  your  public  labours. 
Too  often  is  it  qualified  with  deep  regret,  that  they  are  not 
indulged  in  greater  measures  with  your  pastoral  inter- 
course. I  know  that  these  complaints  are  sometimes  with- 
out reason.  But  they  spring  from  feelings  that  do  honour 
to  your  office.  They  attest  the  general  estimation  of  your 
personal  worth.  I  rejoice  to  hear  them.  I  beseech  you 
not  to  disregard  them.  Accept  the  challenge  which  they 
give.  Go  in,  and  occupy  the  willing  hearts  that  wait  on 
your  acceptance.  Win  them  through  Christ.  Win  them 
to  holiness.    Win  them  for  heaven. 

My  brethren,  reverend  and  beloved,  the  care  of  souls  is 
a  tremendous  care.  It  calls  for  all  our  talents,  for  all  our 
efforts,  and  for  all  our  time.  To  be  faithful  in  it,  to  find 
a  blessing  in  it,  we  must  give  ourselves  wholly  up  to  it,  and 
draw  our  cares  and  studies  all  that  way.  A  world  is  no 
equivalent  to  one  immortal  soul.  Ten  thousand  worlds 
would  be  no  purchase  for  one  moment  of  their  endless  joy, 
who  are  "  forever  with  the  Lord." 


(KatecinsiiiQ- 


From  little  down  to  least — in  due  degree, 

Around  the  Pastor,  each  in  new-wrought  vest. 

Each  with  a  vernal  posy  at  his  breast, 

We  stood,  a  trembling,  earnest  company  ! 

With  low,  soft  murmur,  like  a  distant  bee, 

Some  spake,  by  thought-perplexing  fears  betrayed ; 

And  some  a  bold  unerring  answer  made ; 

How  fluttered  then  my  anxious  heart  for  me, 

Beloved  Mother  !  Thou  whose  happy  hand 

Had  bound  the  flowers  I  wore,  with  faithful  tie ; 

Sweet  flowers  !  at  whose  inaudible  command 

Her  countenance,  phantom-like,  doth  re-appear ; 

O  lost  too  early  for  the  frequent  tear, 

And  ill  requited  by  this  heartfelt  sigh  ! — Wobdsworth. 


HORyE  CATECHETIOE. 


Every  youth  can  preach,  but  he  must  be  a  man  indeed  who  can 
profitably  catechise. — Thomas  Fcllf.ii. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  terms  Catechise,  Catechism,  and  Catechetical,  (from 
the  Greek  word  KaT^'u,  to  sound  aloud,  to  resound,)  are 
applied  to  signify  instruction  conveyed,  not  by  writing,  or 
according  to  any  regular  and  continued  discourse,  but  by 
some  familiar  and  brief  method  of  vivci  voce  teaching.  Thus 
St.  Luke,  in  his  Gospel,  chapter  i,  verses  3  and  4 ; 

not,  ypi^at,  xpatioti  Qeofyite. 

"iva  irtvyvus  rtSpi  oiv  xar^vjjfyj  "koyuv  Tr^v  dcf  ^aXaav. 

"  It  seemed  good  to  me  also,  having  had  perfect  un- 
derstanding of  all  things  from  the  very  first,  to  write  unto 
thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus,  that  thou  mightest 
know  the  certainty  of  those  things  wherein  thou  hast  been 
instructed," — i.  e.  I  think  it  right  to  give  you  a  written  and 
succinct  account  of  those  things  in  which  you  have  been 
initiated,  or  which  you  have  been  taught,  catechetically* 
or  by  word  of  mouth,  or  by  having  them  sounded  in  your 
ears." 

St.  Luke  uses  the  same  word  in  a  similar  sense. — Acts 
xviii.  25. 

OutoJ  j]»  zaTj^fAEvoj  tr^v  bSw  t&  Kiipi's. 

"This  man  was  [catechetically]  instructed  in  the  Gos- 
pel."— i.  e.  He  had  been  initiated  in  the  Gospel,  or,  he  had 
acquired  the  principles  of  it,  by  hearing  them  delivered  to 
him  viva  voce. 

*  Stephens,  Parkhurst,  Hammond,  Horsley. 


48 


That  the  instruction  which  Apollos  had  received  was 
elementary  only,  is  clear  from  the  context,  ver.  26.  "Whom 
when  Aquilla  and  Priscilla  had  heard,  they  took  him  unto 
them,  and  expounded  unto  him  the  way  of  God  more  per- 
fectly:' 

St.  Paul  evidently  applies  the  same  term  in  the  sense  of 
oral  instruction,  1  Cor.  xiv.  19, — JW  xai'  aj.ta?  xar^r^u, 
"  that  by  my  voice  I  might  teach  others." 

After  the  Apostles  had  adopted  the  word,  it  was  in  very 
common  use  among  the  Fathers  of  the  Primitive  Church, 
to  signify  their  peculiar  mode  of  teaching  the  rudiments  of 
Christianity  by  question  and  answer,  and  by  impressing 
the  lessons  of  the  Gospel  on  the  hearts  of  their  Neophytes 
by  frequent  repetition. 

Hence  the  Catechist  was  said  to  instruct,  by  making  the 
elements  of  Christian  doctrine  resound  in  the  ears  of  his 
students ;  and  the  Catechumen  was  said  to  be  taught  by 
repeating  the  words  addressed  to  him,  and  by  answering 
questions. 

"Catechism,"  says  Comber,  "according  to  the  definition 
of  an  ancient  author,  is,  the  knowledge  of  Religion  frst 
delivered  to  the  ignorant  by  the  Catechist,  and  then  by 
them  repeated  over  and  orer  again.    Kar^j;itj  litiv 

iftiatr^fi.r'  OfOSfjSti'aj  foTf  drtfi'poiy ,  -/)  5=  rtapa6o£f;iaa  £co  xa.Tr;- 

^fov,  xai  rtaxiv  artoSoSstua  \i7t  aurwy." — Clemens  Alexan- 
drinus.  Which,  continues  Comber,  appears  farther  from 
the  very  original  of  the  word,  being  derived  from  fyu,  that 
is  an  echo,  or  a  repeated  sound ;  because  the  Catechist  did 
first  teach  them,  and  then,  by  way  of  question,  try  if  they 
had  learnt  what  he  had  delivered  to  them :  which  gave  good 
grounds  to  the  authors  of  the  Roman  Catechism  to  say, 
"  That  the  manner  of  the  Apostle's  Catechising,  which  the 


4i) 


Church  yet  imitates,  in  the  mysteries  of  Baptism,  consisted 
of  Questions  and  Answers." 

Another  Expositor  of  Catechetical  instruction  calls  Cat- 
echising "  A  general  instruction  in  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  Religion,  by  way  of  question  and 
answer." 

I  have  merely  to  add  to  this  statement,  that  the  question- 
ing and  answering  must  be  mutual,  and  that  the  Catechist 
does  not  do  his  duty  by  the  Catechumen,  unless  he  gives 
him  an  opportunity  not  only  of  repeating  the  lesson,  but  of 
asking  for  explanations,  and  of  returning  the  sense  as  well 
echoing  back  the  sound  of  his  instructor. 


5 


Those  other  divine  discourses  en- 
riche  the  brain  and  the  tongue; 
this  settles  the  heart :  those  other 
are  but  the  descants  to  this  plaine 
song.  Contemn  it  not,  my  bre- 
thren, for  its  easie  and  noted  home- 
linesse;  the  most  excellent  and 
beneficial  things  are  most  familiar. 


BISHOP  HAIL. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 


Mt  Lord, 

As  one  of  the  Incumbents  in  your  Lordship's  dio- 
cese, I  had  the  advantage  of  hearing  that  Charge,  in  which 
you  dwelt  with  considerable  earnestness  upon  the  duty  of 
Catechising,  a  duty  which  has  been  well  defined  *  to  be, 
"  Instruction  communicated  by  asking  questions,  and  hear- 
ing and  correcting  the  answers." 

Your  Lordship's  directions  upon  this  subject  were  pre- 
ceded by  some  strong  observations  upon  the  relation  which 
ought  to  subsist  between  a  parochial  Clergyman  and  his 
congregation, — and  upon  the  means  that  should  be  adopted 
to  bring  the  parishioner,  from  his  earliest  days,  into  imme- 
diate contact  with  his  spiritual  guide. 

I  have  reason  to  be  thankful  for  the  impression,  for  the 
deep  and  lasting  impression,  which  this  part  of  your  Lord- 
ship's Charge  left  on  my  mind.  It  led  me  to  think  more 
seriously,  than  I  had  ever  done  before,  upon  the  practica- 
bility of  establishing  the  relation  which  you  recommended, 
and  of  having  recourse  to  those  primitive  ordinances,  and 
to  the  exercise  of  those  eudearing  pastoral  duties,  which 
cannot  fail  of  attaching  the  people  to  their  constituted  min- 
isters. Having  derived  benefit  from  your  Lordship's  sug- 
gestions, and  having  been  permitted,  as  I  trust,  to  become 
an  instrument  of  that  good  to  others,  which  is  likely  to  re- 
suit  from  a  regular  system  of  catechetical  instruction,  I  am 
anxious  to  give  some  publicity  to  the  mode  which  I  have 

•  Bishop  Mailt.  Notes  on  the  Catechism. 


52 


pursued,  in  conformity  with  your  directions,  and  to  its  suc- 
cessful issue.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  now  address  your 
Lordship ;  and  I  am  encouraged  to  do  so,  not  only  by  the 
patient  ear,  which  you  have  always  lent  to  every  personal 
communication,  when  I  have  reported  from  time  to  time 
the  progress  of  my  experiment, — but  also  by  the  desire  ex. 
pressed  by  your  Lordship,  that  I  should  commit  an  account 
of  it  to  print.  But  judging  from  one  or  two  of  the  senti- 
ments expressed  in  your  Charge,  that  much  as  you  wish 
and  hope  to  see  public  catechising  resumed,  you  entertain 
doubts  as  to  the  success,  which  may  attend  it  equally  in  all 
places,  I  shall  venture  to  follow  your  Lordship  through 
your  remarks,  and  to  throw  out  a  few  reflections,  as  I  pro- 
ceed, upon  the  duty  and  expediency  of  a  universal  obedi- 
ence to  the  instructions  of  the  Church  on  this  subject,  be- 
fore I  enter  upon  an  explanation  of  the  system  pursued  by 
myself. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  BISHOP  OF  LONDON'S  CHARGE. 

The  following  is  the  passage  in  your  Lordship's  Charge, 
to  which  I  feel  indebted  for  an  impulse,  which  has  given  a 
new  and  more  efficient  character  to  my  ministerial  labours. 

"  The  general  disuse  into  which  this  practice  (Catechi- 
sing) has  fallen,  I  consider  as  calamitous  to  the  interests  of 
piety  in  the  highest  degree,  not  only  by  removing  one  of 
the  strongest  incitements  to  the  parents  to  teach,  and  to 
the  children  to  learn,  the  doctrines  and  laws  of  their  Chris- 
tian profession,  but  still  more  by  its  fatal  efTect  in  frustrat- 
ing the  purpose,  which  it  was  the  principal  object  of  the 


53 


ordinances  relating  to  these  points  to  attain.  If  at  the  age 
when  the  mind  is  susceptible  of  the  strongest  impressions, 
the  young  are  regularly  brought  into  personal  intercourse 
with  their  minister,  and  accustomed  to  receive  their  instruc- 
tions from  his  lips,  they  will  naturally  imbibe  a  respect  for 
his  person,  and  a  reverence  to  the  sacred  character  of  his 
office,  which  will  prove  the  strongest  of  barriers  against 
immorality  and  vice,  as  well  as  dissent  and  infidelity. 
They  will  regard  with  deep  veneration  the  truths  which 
they  have  received  upon  his  authority,  and  will  feel, — what 
reasoning  can  hardly  make  clear  to  the  ignorant, — the  dan- 
ger no  less  of  guilt  than  of  error,  in  deserting  the  appointed 
guide  of  their  youth  for  intrusive  and  unknown  teachers. 
The  discontinuance  of  this  salutary  practice  is  imputable, 
neither  to  the  neglect  of  the  ecclesiastical  governors, — for 
they  have  constantly  remonstrated  against  it, — nor  to  the 
indolence  of  the  parochial  Clergy ;  but  was  a  concession 
most  reluctantly  yielded  to  the  fastidious  impatience  of 
their  congregations. 

"  I  am  not  so  fondly  attached  to  ancient  usages,  however 
beneficial  in  themselves,  as  to  press  the  crude  and  hasty 
revival  of  a  method  of  teaching,  which,  at  least  in  its  ordi- 
nary form,  has  proved  on  experience  unsuitable  to  the 
habits  and  feelings  of  modern  times.  To  ensure  success 
to  the  experiment,  much  judgment  would  be  requisite  in 
preparing  the  way  by  the  previous  removal  of  objections, 
and  improving  the  practice  itself  by  such  modifications,  as 
would  render  it  popular  as  well  as  useful."* 

[*  The  admirable  Charge  hero  citeJ  was  delivered  by  Dr.  How- 
ley,  the  present  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  when  Bishop  of  London, 
at  his  Visitation,  in  July,  1822.— American  Editor:] 

5* 


54 


CATECHISING,  THE  UNIFORM  PRACTICE  OF  THE  ROMAN 
CATHOLIC  CLERGY  ABROAD. 

Very  soon  after  hearing  your  Lordship  deliver  these 
sentiments,  I  visited  the  continent ;  but  the  impression  was 
not  to  be  effaced  by  time  or  distance,  nay,  I  may  confi- 
dently affirm  that  the  convictions  of  my  mind  were  strength- 
ened during  this  visit,  and  that  my  intercourse  with  stran- 
gers, and  my  personal  observation  of  the  practice  of  foreign 
Clergy,  made  it  more  and  more  clear  to  me,  that  parochial 
discipline  cannot  be  duly  maintained,  without  the  assistance 
of  a  regular  Catechetical  system. 

The  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  are  by  far  too  prudent 
to  lose  the  advantages,  which  are  gained  from  an  early 
and  uninterrupted  relation  with  the  younger  part  of  their 
flock.  "Feed  my  lambs,"  is  an  injunction  which  they 
obey  to  the  very  letter  ;  and  they  suffer  none,  no,  not  even 
parents  themselves,  to  stand  between  them  and  their  sacred 
duty  in  this  department.*  It  is  from  the  priest's  lips  that 
the  children  of  the  Romish  communion  of  every  degree,  re- 
ceive religious  instruction,  as  soon  as  they  can  well  under- 
stand what  religion  is  ;  and  they  naturally  reverence  the 
teacher,  who  first  approaches  them  in  the  venerable  char- 
acter of  God's  minister,  and  love  the  instructor,  who  min- 
gles words  of  kindness  and  encouragement  with  his  solemn 
lessons  of  Christianity.  I  bear  willing  testimony  to  the 
zealous  and  affectionate  manner  in  which  the  Romish  Cler- 
gy acquit  themselves  in  this  duty.    The  council  of  Trentf 

[  *  Would  that  we  were  but  as  wise  !  We  should  not  then  hear  of 
Protestant  children  brought  up  in  troops  at  Romish  Schools — a  fa- 
vour which  they  never  reciprocate. — Am.  Ed.] 

•f  Concil.  Trid.  Sess.  24. 


55 


had  the  sagacity  to  make  catechising  one  of  the  most  bind- 
ing of  the  sacerdotal  services  ;  and  in  the  Preface  of  the 
Catechism  which  was  first  published  by  order  of  this  coun- 
cil, a  curious  remark  occurs,  which  shows  how  great  an 
advantage  is  to  be  gained  over  our  adversaries  by  strict  at- 
tention to  this  duty.  "  The  age  is  sadly  sensible  what  mis- 
chief the  Protestants  have  done  the  Catholic  Church,  not 
only  by  their  tongues,  but  especially  by  their  writings 
called  Catechisms." 

The  ministers  of  the  Church  of  Rome  have  the  good 
sense  to  obey  the  Canon,  not  as  "  by  constraint,  but  wil- 
lingly ;"  and  in  sincere  admiration  of  their  conduct  in  this 
respect,  I  cannot  forbear  applying  to  them  the  whole  of 
that  scriptural  passage,  towards  which  my  thoughts  have 
been  led,  and  adding,  that  if,  in  taking  the  oversight  of 
their  flock,  with  a  ready  mind,  they  bear  themselves  to- 
wards their  youthful  charge,  as  the  Apostle  enjoined,  so 
they  may  likewise  be  fairly  held  up  to  us,  as  "  examples." 

Nothing  can  be  more  kind  or  parental  than  their  cate- 
chetical examinations.  They  do  not  leave  it  to  parish 
clerks,  or  to  teachers  of  an  ordinary  stamp,  to  drawl 
through  the  same  form  of  words,  day  after  day,  and  to  se- 
cure rote  without  meaning,  but  they  themselves  are  the  ju- 
dicious expounders.  I  have  entered  Churches  in  France, 
in  Italy,  and  in  Switzerland,  and  have  witnessed  the  same 
beautiful  scene  of  a  parish  priest,  surrounded  by  children 
of  various  ranks  and  ages,  mildly  questioning,  patiently 
explaining,  exhorting,  reproving,  and  instructing  like  "  a 
man  of  God,"  rewarding  with  smiles  of  approbation,  and 
rewarded  in  return  by  the  happy  and  animated  looks  of  the 
cheerful  circle.  In  almost  all  the  cases  to  which  I  allude, 
I  myself,  was  the  only  spectator,  and  that  too  often-times, 
unseen  by  the  priest ;  who  therefore  was  manifestly  dis- 


56 

charging  this  interesting  duty,  not  to  be  heard  or  seen  of 
men,  but  to  obtain  that  influence  over  his  juvenile  audience, 
which  the  sanctity  of  his  office  may  justly  claim. 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CLERGY  IN 
ENGLAND. 

My  Lord,  the  same  practice,  and  the  same  tender  and 
watchful  concern  over  the  rising  generation,  prevail  among 
the  Clergy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  England. 
They  begin  to  exert  their  influence  during  the  earliest  in- 
fancy ;  they  do  not  suffer  catechising  to  fall  into  inefficient 
hands  ;  they  do  not  conduct  it  as  a  mere  formulary ;  they 
do  not  confine  it  to  seasons,  but  they  make  it  to  be  of  sub- 
stantial, and  lasting  use,  by  obtaining  through  its  instru- 
mentality a  fast  hold  upon  the  affections  and  respect  of 
their  flock.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark,  that  I 
am  inclined  to  attribute  a  very  great  measure  of  the  suc- 
cess which  the  papists  have  had  of  late,  in  effecting  con- 
version, to  the  mode  of  catechising  which  they  have  adopted. 
Their  catechetical  instructions  are  not  given,  as  on  the  Con- 
tinent, merely  with  a  view  to  the  benefit  of  young  hearers, 
of  their  own  communion,  but  to  seduce  such  of  our  people 
as  may  chance  to  drop  in,  and  listen  to  them.  For  this 
purpose  all  possible  notoriety  is  extended  to  the  proceeding, 
and  the  opportunity  is  embraced,  of  putting  forth  such  apo- 
logetical,  familiar,  and  attraotive,*  expositions  of  their  doc- 
trine and  discipline,  as  may  lead  astray  the  unsettled  and 
wavering  professors  of  a  purer  faith. 

•  The  following  extract  from  the  form  of  Catechism,  "  recom- 


57 


ITS  SUCCESS. 

This  sort  of  effort  answers  the  purpose  better  than  all 
the  controversy  in  the  world ;  it  is  the  argument  of  an  ac- 
tive life  which  convinces  common  understandings  :  and  if 

mended  by  authority,  for  the  use  of  the  faithful  in  the  four  districts 
in  England,"  under  the  signature  of  the  four  Vicars  Apostolic,  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  catechising  is  conducted  in 
this  country  by  the  Roman  Catholics. — 

The  first  Commandment. 
Q.  Say  the  first  Commandment* 

A.  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. 

Thou  shall  not  have  strange  gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not 
make  to  thyself  any  graven  thing,  nor  the  likeness  of  any  thing 
that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath,  nor  of  those  things 
that  are  in  the  -waters  under  the  earth  ;  thou  shalt  not  adore  them, 
nor  serve  them.  Iam  the  Lord  thy  God,  mighty,  jealous,  visiting 
the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  to  the  third  and fourth 
generation  of  them  that  hate  me:  and  shewing  mercy  unto  thou- 
sands to  them  that  love  me,  and  keep  my  commandments.  Eiod. 
xx.  2.  6. 

Q.  Why  put  you  all  this  in  one  commandment"! 

A.  Because  it  all  relates  to  one  and  the  same  thing. 

Q.  Does  not  the  Scripture  say  that  these  words,  Thou  shalt  not 
make  to  thyself  any  graven  thing,  are  the  second  commandment? 

A.  No :  the  Scripture  does  not  say  which  is  the  first,  second,  or 
third  commandment. 

Q.  Do  not  those  words,  Thou  shalt  not  make  to  thyself  any  gra- 
ven thing,  forbid  the  making  of  images'? 

A.  No  :  they  forbid  the  making  only  of  idols  ;  that  is,  they  forbid 
making  images  to  be  adored,  or  honoured,  as  gods  :  as  it  is  declared 
in  these  words,  Thou  shalt  not  adore  them,  nor  serve  them.  So  that 
the  words,  Thou  shalt  not  make  to  thyself  any  graven  thing,  &c.  are 
only  an  explanation  of  the  foregoing  words,  Thou  shalt  not  have 


58 


our  own  Clergy  would  take  similar  pains  to  render  their 
personal  office  a  pattern  of  zeal,  marked  by  affection,  they 
would  be  rebuilding  the  Church  upon  a  basis  of  moral 
strength,  against  which  the  storm  raised  by  papists  or 

strange  gods  before  me.  We,  therefore,  with  Saint  Augustine, 
make  of  them  but  one  commandment. 

Q.  What  is  meant  by  these  first  words,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  &  c.1 

A.  By  these  God  declares  to  us,  that  he  is  our  true  and  supreme 
Lord,  and  therefore  we  are  obliged  to  obey  him  with  all  diligence. 

Q.  What  are  we  commanded  by  this  first  commandment? 

A.  By  the  first  commandment,  we  are  commanded  to  love,  serve, 
and  worship  one  only  true  and  living  God,  and  no  more. 

Q.  What  is  forbidden  by  the  first  commandment  ? 

A.  The  first  commandment  forbids  us  to  worship  idols,  or  give  to 
any  creature  the  honour  due  to  God  ? 

Q.  What  is  the  honour  due  to  God  ? 

A.  The  honour  due  to  God  is  a  supreme  and  sovereign  honour, 
which  can  be  given  to  no  other  :  we  must  worship  him  as  our  Crea- 
tor, Redeemer,  and  last  end. 

Q.  Is  it  lawful  to  honour  the  images  of  Christ  and  his  saints? 

A.  Yes  :  it  is  lawful  to  honour  the  images  of  Christ  and  his  saints, 
with  an  inferior  and  relative  honour,  because  the  honour  given  them 
is  referred  to  the  things  they  represent :  so  that  by  kissing  the  cross, 
or  the  images  of  Christ,  and  by  kneeling  before  them,  we  honour 
and  adore  Christ  himself. 

Q.  Do  Catholics  pray  to  images  ? 

A.  No,  by  no  means ;  we  pray  before  them  indeed,  to  keep  us 
from  distractions,  but  not  to  them  ;  for  we  know  they  can  neither 
see,  nor  hear,  nor  help  us. 

Q.  What  benefit  have  we  then  by  them  ? 

A.  They  movingly  represent  to  us  the  mysteries  of  our  Saviour's 
passion,  and  the  martyrdom  of  his  saints. 

Q.  What  benefit  have  wc  by  honouring  and  canonizing  saints? 

A.  It  strongly  moves  us  to  imitate  their  example,  by  showing  us 
their  rewards. 


59 


separatists,  would  beat  in  vain.  I  would  say  with  Arch- 
deacon Bayley,  in  his  admirable  charge,*  "  Let  it  not  be  a 
matter  of  offence,  if  I  venture  to  declare  my  honest  opinion, 
that  in  this  labour  of  love,  we,  the  Establishment,  have  yet 
somewhat  to  learn  from  other  Protestant  Societies,  more 
especially  from  the  Priesthood  of  the  Roman  Catholic  com- 
munion. They  are  wise  in  their  generation.  And  as  we 
we  were  long  since,  and  truly  told,  <  if  we  hope  to  be  a 
match  for  them,  we  must  imitate  them."'f 

Instruction  given  in  Sunday,  Charity,  or  National 

Q.  How  do  we  honour  saints  and  angels'! 

A.  We  honour  saints  and  angels  with  an  inferior  honour,  as  the 
friends  and  creatures  of  God,  not  as  gods,  nor  with  God's  honour. 

Q.  Is  it  lawful  to  honour  the  relics  of  saints  1 

A.  Yes,  with  a  relative  honour,  as  above  explained ;  for  the  hand- 
kerchiefs and  aprons  which  had  but  touched  the  body  of  St.  Paul, 
cast  out  devils,  and  cured  all  diseases.    Acts  xix.  12. 

•To  the  Clergy  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Stowe,  May,  1826. 

■)■  The  observations  which  Bishop  Burnet  made  upon  this  subject, 
more  than  1 30  years  ago,  are  so  strictly  applicable  to  the  present 
times,  that  I  cannot  forbear  recording  them  in  this  place.  "  Though 
there  is  still  much  ignorance  among  their  mass-priests,  their  parish- 
priests  are  generally  another  sort  of  men.  They  are  well  instructed 
in  their  religion,  lead  regular  lives,  and  perform  their  parochial  du- 
ties with  most  wonderful  diligence.  They  are  almost  perpetually 
employing  themselves  in  the  several  parts  of  their  cures  : — instruct- 
ing the  youth — hearing  confessions,  and  visiting  the  sick,  &c.  So 
that  the  reformation  which  popery  hath  been  forced  to  make,  has  in 
a  great  measure  stopped  the  progress  of  the  reformation  of  the  doc- 
trinal worship,  that  did  so  long  carry  every  thing  before  it." — Pre- 
face to  Pastoral  Care. — "The  argument,"  said  Bumet,  in  another 
place,  "  in  favour  of  the  Church,  how  clearly  so  ever  made  out,  will 
never  have  a  full  effect  upon  the  world,  till  we  can  show  a  primitive 
spirit  in  its  administration." 


00 


Schools,  is  not  an  evidence  of  pastoral  anxiety,  equal  to 
that  of  catechetical  instruction  in  Church,  it  being  conducted 
for  the  most  part  with  closed  doors ;  and  constant  as  a 
minister's  attendance  may  be  in  those  schools,  his  labours 
are  unknown  to  his  parishioners  at  large.  Where  is  the 
wonder,  then,  that  unreflecting  persons,  who  try  modes  of 
faith  by  the  zeal  of  its  ministers,  and  who  have  had  no  op- 
portunity of  seeing  their  own  Clergy  display  anxious  in- 
terest in  the  religious  cultivation  of  the  younger  portion  of 
his  flock,  should  be  half  won  over  to  the  side  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  priest,  when  he  beholds  him  devoting  him- 
self to  the  spiritual  improvement  of  the  youngest  and  hum- 
blest, and  dullest  of  his  congregation,  and  hears  him  ex- 
plaining the  most  beguiling  of  papal  doctrines,  in  a  voice 
and  with  a  manner  which  seems  to  prove  that  his  whole 
heart  is  in  the  cause  ? 


AN  INSTRUMENT  OF  PROSELYTISM. 


My  Lord,  I  do  not  speak  unadvisedly,  nor  ill-naturedly, 
(for  it  is  not  in  the  shape  of  a  charge  against  them  that  I 
adduce  the  fact,  (when  I  touch  upon  the  seductive  intention 
and  the  seductive  effect,  of  the  catechetical  lectures  held  by 
Roman  Catholic  Priests  in  England.  There  is,  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  London,  one  of  the  most  flourishing  of 
their  establishments  for  the  education  of  poor  children. 
Many  of  those  admitted  here  are  the  children  of  Protestant* 

*  The  following  case  has  been  communicated  to  me  by  the  gen- 
tleman who  took  it  down,  as  it  was  detailed  by  the  mouth  of  his  in- 


61 


parents,  girls  especially,  for  it  is  an  object  to  gain  over  fe- 
males, the  future  mothers  of  families.  Their  infatuated 
parents  have  been  tempted  to  send  them  to  this  institution, 
not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  aid  which  it  affords  to  per- 
sons of  large  families  in  an  humble  condition  of  life, — but 
by  the  effect  which  the  priests'  mode  of  catechising  has  had 
upon  their  own  judgment  or  imagination. 

A  reference  to  "  The  Laity's  Directory  to  the  Church 
Service,  for  the  year  1828,"  published  for  Roman  Catho- 
lics, with  the  authority  of  the  Vicar  Apostolic  in  England, 
will  furnish  some  solid  proofs  of  the  importance  which  the 
Hierarchy  of  Rome  attach  to  the  duty  of  catechising  young 

formant.  The  child  to  whom  it  relates  is  now  a  well-behaved  and 
intelligent  scholar  of  the  Sunday  school  of  Somers-Town,  New 
Church. 

"About  two  years  and  a  half  ago,  soon  after  my  being  left  by  my 
husband,  a  tall  person,  (a  priest)  called  upon  me,  and  having  asked 
me  if  my  name  was  not  Fames,  enquired  if  I  had  not  a  child.  I  re- 
plied, yes.  He  then  asked  how  I  provided  for  him.  I  told  him  by  my 
own  labour  ;  he  then  asked,  did  I  not  find  it  very  difficult  to  do  it  ? 
and,  upon  my  replying  that  I  did,  he  said,  does  he  go  to  any  school  1 
I  told  him  to  Perry-street,  a  school  conducted  on  the  Lancastrian  sys- 
tem, where  the  children's  friends  pay  2d  per  week,  for  the  instruction 
given.  He  then  said,  had  I  not  better  send  him  to  some  charity 
school  1  I  replied,  I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  get  him  into  one 
where  he  could  be  boarded;  upon  this  he  told  me  he  knew  where 
there  was  such  an  one  ;  I  then  asked  where,  and  if  he  could  inform 
me  how  I  could  get  him  into  it?  He  told  me  to  come  at  8  o'clock, 
(I  think  it  was  at  eight  o'clock)  on  the  next  Sunday  morning,  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  chapel  in  Clarendon-square.  Oh  !  I  said,  you  want 
to  make  a  Catholic  of  him  then  ?  He  said,  no,  he  might  come  to  the 
school  and  not  be  a  Catholic;  and  if  I  would  send  him  every  morn- 
ing by  eight  o'clock,  that  they  would  keep  him  ;  they  had  a  great 
number  they  did  so  by.    I  said  they  did  not  allow  them  to  read  the 


62 

persons  publicly,  in  the  place  of  divine  worship.  The  hour 
of  catechising  is  regularly  advertised  among  the  services  of 
the  Church:  and  in  the  notices  of  twenty -five .chapels  in, 
or  very  near  London,  care  is  taken  to  announce  that  cate- 
chetical instruction  forms  part  of  the  solemnities  of  eleven 
out  of  that  number.    For  example, 

"  St.  Mary's,  Moorfields.  A  discourse  after  the  gospel 
at  high  mass,  and  vespers  on  Sundays  at  three  o'clock,  and 
catechism  immediately  after." 

"  Sardinian  chapel,  Duke-street,  Lincoln's-inn-fields.  Af- 
ter the  gospel,  at  high  mass  on  Sunday,  a  discourse  in  En- 
glish :  vespers  at  three  o'clock,  immediately  after  which 
catechism,  and  a  catechetical  discourse." 

Bible ; — he  replied  they  did,  those  parts  which  were  fit  for  them,  and 
that  they  taught  children  their  duty  to  their  parents,  that  the  Catho- 
lic children  were  much  better  behaved  than  the  Perry-street  boys. 
Then  I  perceive  you  are  a  Catholic  yourself,  I  observed.  He  replied) 
rather  so.  I  then  said,  I  could  not  agree  to  his  going :  he  said  I  was 
very  wrong,  for  if  I  did,  that  I  might  be  sure  I  should  have  employ- 
ment for  myself,  and  my  child  provided  for ;  he  desired  me  to  come 
on  the  following  Sunday,  and  hear  the  children  catechised,  he  was 
sure  I  should  approve  of  it.  I  told  him  I  would  consider  of  it.  He 
then  left  me  ;  but  came  again  in  about  a  fortnight,  and  complained 
that  I  was  not  at  the  chapel.  He  then  asked  where  was  your  boy 
on  the  Sabbath  day,  if  you  were  out  at  work  1  He  told  me  if  I 
would  come  on  the  Sunday  morning  to  the  chapel,  I  should  be  re- 
lieved ;  that  I  need  not  work  on  the  Sabbath-day  :  I  stated  I  had  been 
in  a  Roman  Catholic  chapel  but  twice,  and  in  my  present  mind,  I 
should  not  enter  one  again.  He  then  left  me,  saying,  he  should  call 
again ;  but  did  not. — Throughout  these  conversations  he  called  me 
his  child." 

It  is  notorious  that  many  Protestant  children,  drawn  away  thus, 
are  brought  up  in  this  Roman  Catholic  establishment.  One  poor 
man  has  been  persuaded  to  send  two  of  his  children  there. 


63 

"  Chelsea  New  Chapel.  Catechism  at  half-past  two,  and 
vespers,  with  benediction,  at  half-past  three." 

"  London  Road.  Vespers  in  summer  at  half-past  three, 
in  winter  at  three  o'clock :  after  vespers  the  catechism  ex- 
plained." 

"Somers  Town.  At  six,  catechism,  followed  by  the 
benediction  of  the  blessed  Sacrament." 


PRACTISED  BY  THE  FOREIGN  PROTESTANT  CLERGY. 

It  would  be  needless  to  produce  any  further  testimony  of 
the  exemplary  anxiety  displayed  by  the  Romish  clergy  to 
bring  themselves  into  regular  intercourse  with  the  young.  I 
will  therefore  proceed  to  make  a  few  brief  remarks  upon 
the  value,  which  the  Protestant,  as  well  as  Roman  Catholic, 
Churches  on  the  Continent  attach  to  public  catechising,  as 
an  indispensable  branch  of  the  clerical  office. 

De  Thou's  account  of  the  pains,  which  the  ministers  of 
the  Reformed  Churches  of  France  took,  in  past  times,  to 
lay  a  good  foundation,  at  an  age,  when  the  mind  is  suscep- 
tible of  the  strongest  impressions,  is  literally  applicable  to 
the  present  period  of  their  ecclesiastical  history.  "You 
can  scarcely  find  a  boy  among  them  who  cannot  give  you 
an  intelligible  account  of  the  faith  they  profess."  This  was 
said  of  them  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago :  and,  at  a 
still  earlier  date,  a  Popish  theologian,  who  was  sent  to  con- 
vert the  Protestants  of  Dauphine,  came  back  ashamed  of 
his  errand,  and  avowed  that  it  was  a  hopeless  case  to  at- 
tempt to  make  proselytes,  in  a  quarter  where  the  youngest 
were  so  well  grounded  in  the  principles  of  their  creed  by 


04 


their  pastors.*  "  I  have  learnt,"  exclaimed  he,  "  more  of 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  from  the  answers  of  little  children 
in  their  Catechism,  than  in  all  my  previous  studies."! 

It  is  well  known,  that  the  Protestant  congregations  in 
France  and  Switzerland,  in  their  solicitude  to  remove  as 
far  as  possible  from  the  stumbling  blocks  of  Popish  error, 
tolerate  but  very  few  forms  of  prayer.  Most  of  them  have, 
however,  strongly  marked  their  sense  of  the  expediency  of 
public  catechising,  by  admitting  into  their  simple  Liturgies 
an  order  of  service  and  form  of  prayer  used  for  the  prepar- 
ation of  Catechumens.  But  it  is  not  in  the  sanctuary  only, 
that  our  Protestant  brethren  on  the  Continent  impress  upon 
the  minds  of  their  juvenile  congregations  the  awful  respon- 
sibility of  the  Christian  covenant.  They  follow  them  to 
their  houses  at  stated  intervals;  and,  extending  their  pas- 
toral care  to  old  as  well  as  to  young,  they  ask  for  an  ac- 
count of  their  studies  and  meditations  in  the  bosoms  of  their 
families.  I  have  now  an  extract  from  a  traveller's  letter 
before  me,  in  which  he  writes  thus  of  one  of  these  inter- 
esting scenes. 

"  The  pastor  of  was  engaged  in  his  district  ex- 
amination. The  intention  of  this  is  to  ascertain  the  reli- 
gious and  moral  state  of  each  hamlet.  During  the  short 
time  we  witnessed  his  labours,  he  asked  his  people  if  any 
of  them  wished  for  an  explanation  of  any  particular  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  which  they  had  not  clearly  understood. 
After  having  addressed  himself  to  almost  every  one  in  par- 

[  *  An  incident  worthy  of  all  observation. — Am.  Ed.] 

[  |  The  exercise  of  Catechising  is  to  the  teacher  himself  a  constant 

source  of  instruction  and  improvement.    Let  any  try  who  doubt. — 

Am.  Ed.] 


65 


ticular,  he  concluded  by  a  most  affectionate  exhortation, 
and  a  solemn  prayer." 

I  myself  had  the  satisfaction  of  being  present  at  more  than 
one  of  the  Catechetical  lectures,  which  constitute  a  regular 
division  of  the  parochial  minister's  labours  in  the  Protestant 
valleys  of  Piedmont.  At  stated  periods,  the  Churches  are 
opened  on  Mondays  and  Wednesdays  for  this  mode  of  in- 
struction expressly,  and  it  is  uniformly  imparted  by  the 
pastors  themselves,  although  each  village  has  its  appointed 
schoolmaster.  Happily,  the  parochial  clergy  in  these  se- 
cluded regions,  are  too  sensibly  alive  to  the  interests  of  reli- 
gion, to  resign  religious  instruction  entirely  to  lay-teachers. 


ITS  HAPPY  EFFECTS. 

The  effect  of  this  watchfulness  over  the  spiritual  progress 
of  their  youthful  flock  is  exactly  what  your  Lordship  has 
so  well  expressed.  "  If  the  young  are  brought  into  regu- 
lar intercourse  with  their  ministers,  and  accustomed  to  re- 
ceive their  instructions  from  his  lips,  they  will  naturally 
imbibe  a  respect  for  his  person,  and  a  reverence  for  the  sa- 
cred character  of  his  office,  which  will  prove  the  strongest 
of  barriers  against  immorality  and  vice,  as  well  as  dissent 
and  infidelity.  They  will  regard  with  deep  veneration  the 
truths  which  they  have  received  upon  his  authority,  and 
will  feel  what  reasoning  can  hardly  make  clear  to  the  ig- 
norant, the  danger  no  less  of  guilt  than  of  error  in  desert- 
ing the  appointed  guide  of  their  youth,  for  intrusive  and 
unknown  teachers."    Should  there  ever  be  that  general 


6* 


disuse  of  the  practice  of  catechising  in  the  little  Church  of 
the  valleys,  which  your  Lordship  bewails  in  this  country, 
as  being  «  calamitous  to  the  interests  of  piety  in  the  highest 
degree,"  and  which  has  been  well  pronounced  by  another 
authority  to  be  "  as  unreasonable,  as  the  effect  is  disas- 
trous," I  am  persuaded  that  the  light  which  has  been  permit- 
ted by  Divine  Providence,  to  shine  so  long  in  the  midst  of 
Papal  darkness,  will  soon  tremble  in  its  lamp,  and  finally 
be  extinguished  by  Papal  violence  or  stratagem. 

I  began  this  letter  by  expressing  my  gratitude  to  your 
Lordship  for  directing  my  attention  to  the  serious  duty, 
which,  I  trust  nothing  will  ever  induce  me  to  neglect ;  the 
mention  of  the  Vaudois  of  Piemont,  leads  me  to  acknowl- 
edge another  heavy  debt,  (and  the  digression  will  be  al- 
lowed,) under  which  they  and  I  are  bound  to  you. 

It  required  the  influence  of  exhortation  and  example  to 
render  successful  those  endeavours,  which  humbler  advo- 
cates were  making  in  behalf  of  this  Protestant  community. 
Had  not  their  cause  been  espoused  by  some  person  in  au- 
thority, it  would  have  been  hopeless.  You,  my  Lord, 
were  the  first  to  extend  that  aid  which  the  case  required. 
Your  influence,  your  advice,  your  time  were  freely  given. 
In  the  midst  of  many  other  pressing  occupations,  you  were 
always  accessible.  May  you  long  have  opportunities  of 
exercising  one  of  the  most  graceful  privileges  of  high  sta- 
tion, and  continue  to  secure  permanent  sentiments  of  re- 
spect, by  similar  instances  of  kindness  and  consideration  ! 

To  return  to  the  more  immediate  subject  in  view.  Your 
Lordship  has  stated  that  the  discontinuance  of  the  salutary 
practice  of  catechising  "  is  imputable  neither  to  the  neglect 
of  the  ecclesiastical  governors,  for  they  have  constantly  re- 


67 

monstrated  against  it,  nor  to  the  indolence  of  the  parochial 
Clergy ;  but  was  a  concession  most  reluctantly  yielded  to 
the  fastidious  impatience  of  their  congregations." 


MEASURES  WHICH  HAVE  BEEN  ADOPTED  IN  ENGLAND  TO 
ENFORCE  CATECHISING  ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  ESTAB- 
LISHED CLERGY. 

My  Lord,  you  have  done  no  more  than  justice  to  the 
heads  of  our  Church,  in  saying  that  they  have  constantly 
remonstrated  against  the  neglect  of  this  duty.  The  char- 
ges of  our  most  distinguished  Prelates,  for  the  last  century 
and  a  half,  abound  in  expostulations  with  their  Clergy  on 
account  of  their  dereliction  of  it.  Indeed  the  Liturgy,  the 
Canons,  and  the  Rubric  demand  so  strict  an  attention  to 
the  letter  of  the  precept,  that  it  is  impossible  for  our  eccle- 
siastical governors  to  pass  over  the  violation  of  it  in  silence. 

But,  my  Lord,  I  cannot  help  entertaining  an  opinion, 
that  little  as  the  custom  of  catechising  seems  to  prevail  at 
this  time  among  the  established  Clergy  of  England,  as 
much  attention  is  paid  to  the  duty  by  the  reflecting  portion 
of  the  profession  now,  as  at  any  former  period  of  our  ec- 
clesiastical history.  Yes,  lamentably  remiss  as  we  are  in 
this  point,  I  think  we  can  bear  comparison  with  our  ances- 
tors, taken  as  a  body.  The  theory  of  catechetical  instruc- 
tion has  always  been  admitted  to  be  beautiful ;  but,  with 
strange  inconsistency,  the  practice  has  ever  been  slack  and 
irregular.*    My  judgment  is  formed  upon  the  injunctions 

[Why  should  it  be  so  1—  Am.  Ed.] 


68 


and  canons  which  have  been  put  forth  from  time  to  time, 
imposing  penalties  upon  the  non-performance  of  this  ser- 
vice, and  upon  the  complaints  which  have  never  ceased  to 
issue  from  Archbishops  and  Bishops.  So  that  it  is  really 
difficult  to  ascertain  which  was  the  golden  period,  when 
this  "  godly  discipline,  and  laudable  custom  of  the  Church 
of  England,"  was  in  perfection. 

Archbishop  Cranmer  spoke  of  its  neglect,  in  the  Dedica- 
tion of  his  Catechism*  to  king  Edward  the  Sixth,  in  the 
year  1548,  although  a  royal  injunction  for  its  strict  obser- 
vance had  been  promulgated  in  the  former  reign,  twelve 
years  before. 


CANONS  OF  EDWARD  VI. 

Public  authority  twice  interfered  during  the  last  Ed- 
ward's brief  sovereignty.  But  what  great  benefit  could  be 
expected  from  a  limited  order  like  the  following? 

"  The  curate  of  every  parish,  once  in  six  weeks  at  the 
least,  upon  warning  by  him  given,  shall  upon  some  Sun- 
day, or  holiday,  half  an  hour  before  evensong,  openly  in 
the  Church,  instruct,  and  examine  so  many  children  of  his 
parish  sent  unto  him,  as  the  time  will  serve,  and  as  he  shall 
think  convenient,  in  some  part  of  this  catechism.")"  And 
all  fathers,  mothers,  masters,  and  dames,  shall  cause  their 

*  See  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation.    Vol.  II.  71. 

■j-  This  catechism  was  nearly  the  same  as  that  now  in  use,  save 
that  the  part  which  relates  to  the  sacraments,  had  not  yet  been  ad- 
ded. It  was  introduced  after  the  conference  in  the  reign  of  king 
James  I.  between  the  Episcopalians  and  Puritans. 


G9 


children,  servants,  and  apprentices  (which  are  not  yet  con- 
firmed,) to  come  to  the  Church,  at  the  time  appointed,  and 
obediently  hear,  and  be  ordered  by  the  curate,  until  such 
lime  as  they  have  learnt  all  that  is  here  appointed  for  them 
to  learn."  2.  5,  Ed.  VI. 

An  interval  of  six  weeks  *  was  permitted  to  elapse  be- 
tween each  act  of  public  instruction,  and  even  then  the 
time  specified  was  half  an  hour  only.  Little,  indeed,  was 
likely  to  be  gained,  by  such  a  process,  on  the  part  of  an 
illiterate  population,  very  few  of  whom  could  read;  and 
whose  ignorance  therefore  required  that  the  curate  should 
recite  the  leading  articles  of  our  faith,  little  by  little,  till 
the  learners  could  repeat  them  by  heart. 


PENAL  INJUNCTIONS  OF  ELIZABETH. 

It  is  manifest  enough,  that  nothing  very  effectual  could 
result  from  such  an  infrequent  exercise  of  the  duty,  as  that 
with  which  the  framers  of  Edward's  injunction  would  have 
been  satisfied.  And  so  it  was  found ;  for  by  a  very  early 
act  of  queen  Elizabeth,  the  curate  was  required  to  perform 
this  service  every  second  Sunday.  The  Constitutions  of 
1571  improved  upon  this  provision,  and  inserted  a  clause 
to  the  following  effect : 

*  The  injunctions  and  articles  to  be  enquired  of  at  the  king's  visi- 
tation, in  1547,  contained  a  query,  put  to  "  parsons,  vicars,  and  cu- 
rates," which  was  better  calculated  to  secure  the  attention  of  the 
Clergy,  "  Have  you,  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  taught  your  parish- 
ioners, and  especially  the  youth,  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
the  ten  commandments,  and  expounded  the  same? " 


70 


"  On  every  Sunday,  and  holiday,  at  twelve  o'clock,  the 
Clergy  shall  repair  to  their  Churches,  and  there  spend  two 
hours  at  least  in  reading  and  explaining  the  catechism ; 
and  they  shall  instruct  therein  all  their  parishioners,  of 
every  age  and  condition ;  and  they  shall  take  especial  care 
that  none  be  permitted*  to  receive  the  Communion,  or  to 
contract  marriage,  &c.  before  they  can  well  and  sufficient- 
ly answer  all  the  questions  in  the  catechism.f" 

From  thenceforward  we  might  suppose,  that  the  object 
of  the  Church  was  completely  attained,  and  that  clergy 
and  people  submitted  equally  to  this  preremptory  law.  But 
no !  twenty  years  afterwards,  Archbishop  Whitgift  felt 
himself  constrained  to  notice  the  desuetude  into  which  the 
practice  had  fallen,  and  to  exhort  his  suffragans,  "  In  the 
fear  of  God,  according  to  their  pastoral  care,  and  by  the 
duty  which  they  owed  both  to  God  and  his  Church,  to  give 
straight  charge  to  the  clergy  and  their  parishioners,  to  see 
that  the  children,  and  other  ignorant  persons,  were  duly 
instructed,  and  examined  in  their  catechism,  as,  by  the 
orders  of  the  Church,  they  ought  to  be.":}: 

*  Another  penalty  proposed  during  this  arbitrary  reign,  was, 
"  That  he,  whose  child,  at  ten  years  old  and  upwards,  was  not  able 
to  say  the  catechism,  should  pay  ten  shillings  to  the  poor's  box ;  the 
like  penalty  to  be  inflicted  upon  masters  and  mistresses,  who  had 
servants  of  fourteen  years  and  upwards,  who  could  not  say  the  cate- 
chism by  heart." 

f  Wilk.  iv.  265. 

*  "  Anno.  1591.   Reg.  Whitgift,  vol.  i.  185." 


71 


CANONS  OF  JAMES  I. 

The  59th  of  "  the  Constitutions  and  Canons  Ecclesiasti- 
cal," agreed  on  in  1603,  departed,  in  some  degree,  from 
the  severity  of  Elizabeth's  enactments,  but  its  penal  char- 
acter  proves  that  the  continued  laxity  of  the  clergy  still 
demanded  a  coercive  hand. 

"  Every  parson,  vicar,  or  curate,  upon  every  Sunday 
and  holy  day,  before  evening  prayer,  shall,  for  half  an 
hour  and  more,  examine  and  instruct  the  youth,  and  igno- 
rant persons  of  his  parish,  in  the  ten  commandments,  the 
Articles  of  the  Belief,  and  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  :  and  shall 
diligently  hear,  instruct,  and  teach  them  the  catechism,  set 
forth  in  the  Book  of  the  Common  Prayer.  And  all  fathers, 
mothers,  masters,  and  mistresses,  shall  cause  their  chil- 
dren, servants,  and  apprentices,  which  have  not  learned 
the  catechism,  to  come  to  the  church,  at  the  time  appointed, 
obediently  to  hear,  and  to  be  ordered  by  the  minister  un- 
til they  have  learned  the  same.  And  if  any  minister  neglect 
his  duty  herein,  let  him  be  sharply  reproved  upon  the  first 
complaint,  and  true  notice  thereof  given  to  the  Bishop  or 
Ordinary  of  the  place.  If,  after  submitting  himself,  he 
shall  wilfully  offend  again,  let  him  be  suspended.  If  so 
the  third  time,  there  being  little  hope  he  will  be  therein 
reformed,  then  excommunicated,  and  so  remain,  until  he 
will  be  reformed.  And  likewise  if  any  of  the  said  fathers, 
masters,  mistresses  of  the  children,  servants,  or  appren- 
tices, shall  neglect  their  duties,  as  the  one  sort  in  not  caus- 
ing them  to  come,  and  the  other  in  refusing  to  learn,  as 
aforesaid,  let  them  be  suspended  by  their  Ordinaries,  (if 
they  be  not  children,)  and  if  they  so  persist  by  the  space 
of  a  month,  then  let  them  be  excommunicated." 


72 

It  is  manifest  from  the  terms,  "  examine  and  instrvct," 
and  "  shall  diligently  hear,  instruct,  and  teach,"  that  the 
canon  exacts  much  more,  than  that  the  clergyman  should 
merely  hear  the  children  say  the  form  of  Church  catechism 
by  rote.  A  careful  instruction  in  the  principles  therein  set 
forth  is  the  object  of  this  canon :  and  in  bishop  Gibson's 
"  Codex  Juris  Ecclesiastici  Anglicani,"  we  find  a  note  upon 
the  words  "  examine  and  instruct  the  youth,"  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect : — 

"  In  the  Reformatio  Legum  there  is  an  excellent  rule 
upon  this  head.  One  hour  or  more  in  the  afternoon  ser- 
vice, f  Let  the  parish  priest  take  up  the  Catechism,  and 
give  great  attention  to  the  explanation  of  it;  for  a  frequent 
exposition  of  the  Catechism  is  of  the  utmost  use  and  benefit 
in  the  Church  of  God.  And  we  wish  this  instruction  to 
be  given  not  only  to  the  children,  but  to  the  young  persons 
who  are  growing  up,  that  they  also  may  be  well  informed 
in  the  principles  of  their  religion,  and  that  the  assiduity  of 
the  children  may  be  stimulated  by  their  presence.'  " 

But  whether  it  was,  that  the  express  mention  of  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Articles  of  the  Belief,  and  the  Lortfs 
Prayer,  gave  such  a  formal  and  limited  construction  to 
the  canon,  as  to  defeat  the  more  substantial  object  regarded 
by  the  clause  that  immediately  follows  :  viz.  "  shall  diligent- 
ly hear,  instruct,  and  teach  them  the  Catechism,"  &c. — or 
that  the  service  was  rendered  obnoxious  by  its  appearance 
of  constraint,  and  by  the  penalties  attached  to  the  non- 
performance of  the  duty,  menacing  both  the  negligent  min- 
ister, and  the  careless  parents  and  masters,  who  would 
not  send  their  children  to  be  so  taught, — certain  it  is,  that 
the  Church  gained  nothing  in  point  of  true  allegiance  by 
having  her  ordinance  thus  defined  and  enforced. 


78 


"  Your  Majesty,"  said  a  Right  Reverend  preacher  be- 
fore King  James,  in  1624,  «  can  never  be  sufficiently  com- 
mended, in  taking  order,  that  the  chief  heads  of  the  Cate- 
chism should,  in  the  ordinary  ministry,  be  diligently  pro- 
pounded, and  explained  unto  the  people  throughout  the 
land  ;  which  I  wish  were  as  duly  executed  every  where, 
as  teas  piously  by  you  intended" 

About  the  same  period,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  a  letter  written  to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  complained 
thus  grievously  of  the  neglect  of  catechising,  by  the  En- 
glish Clergy :  "  The  which  kind  of  teaching,  (to  our  amend- 
ment be  it  spoken,)  is  more  diligently  observed  in  all  the 
reformed  Churches  of  Europe,  than  of  late  it  hath  been 
here  in  England.  I  find  his  majesty  much  moved  with 
this  neglect,  and  resolved,  if  we  Bishops  do  not  see  a  refor- 
mation hereof,  which  I  trust  we  shall,  to  recommend  it  to 
the  care  of  the  civil  magistrate." 


RUBRIC  OF  1661. 

In  pursuing  the  enquiry,  we  shall  find  that  the  rubrics, 
which  were  re-modelled  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  have 
not  been  much  more  successful,  although  they  are  in  their 
nature  more  obligatory  than  the  canons,  because  they  are 
made  binding  by  statute,  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  law. 
Within  so  short  a  period  as  ten  years  after  their  enactment, 
Archbishop  Sheldon,  by  the  king's  command,  sent  letters 
to  the  Bishops,  requiring  them  "to  enforce  the  execution 
of  such  laws  and  constitutions,  as  enabled  them  to  enjoin 
the  use  and  exercise  of  our  Church  Catechism;"  a  pretty 


74 


clear  proof  of  the  general  carelessness.  Cosins,  Bishop  of 
Durham,  must  have  understood  the  extent  of  this  insuffi- 
ciency, when  he  observed,*  that  the  rubric  is  expressed  in 
indefinite  terms,  and  that  a  parochial  Clergyman  is  not 
obliged  by  it  to  catechise  more  frequently  than  he  himself 
thinks  necessary.  In  one  respect,  by  changing  the  time 
from  "  half  an  hour  before  evening  prayer,"  to  an  interval 
"  after  the  second  Lesson,"  it  varies  directly  from  the  59th 
canon,  and  so  far  the  trumpet  of  the  law  gives  an  uncer- 
tain sound.  "The  curate  of  every  parish  shall  diligently, 
upon  Sundays  and  holy  days,  after  the  second  Lesson  at 
evening  prayer,  openly  in  the  Church  instruct  and  exam- 
ine so  many  children  of  his  parish,  sent  unto  him,  as  he 
shall  think  convenient,  in  some  part  of  the  Catechism."  f 


INSUFFICIENCY  OF  THE  RUBRIC  TO  REVIVE  EFFECTIVB 
CATECHISING. 

The  principal  inconvenience  of  this  rubric  is  found  in 
the  time  it  enjoins  for  the  exercise  of  the  duty,  which  sel- 
dom fails  of  exciting  impatience  in  the  congregation,  and 
of  producing  results  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  ordi- 

*  See  Shepherd  on  the  Common  Prayer,  vol.  ii.  p.  276. 

[■J-  The  requirements  for  the  discharge  of  this  duty  among  us  are 
rubrical  and  canonical.  The  rubric  before  the  Catechism,  or  rather 
the  title  of  the  Catechism,  declares  it  "an  instruction,  to  be  learned 
by  every  person  before  he  be  brought  to  be  confirmed  by  the  Bishop." 
The  rubrics  after  the  Catechism  prescribe  that  "the  minister  of 
every  parish  shall  diligently,  upon  Sundays  and  Holy-days,  or  on 
some  other  convenient  occasions,  openly,  in  the  Church,  instruct  or 


73 


nance.  To  catechise  during  an  interval  of  Divine  Service, 
is  to  lose  the  effect  of  that  more  familiar  and  personal  ex- 
amination of  each  child,  according  to  the  nature  of  his 
answers,  which  is  the  life  and  essence  of  the  practice. 
Moreover,  while  the  minister  is  in  the  midst  of  the  evening 
prayer,  and  the  congregation  are  silenced  by  the  solemnity 
of  the  Liturgy,  it  may  be  thought  ill-timed  and  injurious 
to  the  seriousness  of  their  devotion,  to  interrupt  them  by  a 
process  of  interrogation,  which  may,  occasionally,  sink  into 
the  ridiculous,  by  the  replies  of  simple  and  ignorant  child- 
hood. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  put  any  wrong  construction  upon 
your  Lordship's  sentiments,  but  I  consider,  that  the  follow- 
ing passage  in  your  Lordship's  charge,  has  reference  to 
the  inutility  of  confining  ourselves  to  the  system  proposed 
by  the  Rubric,  and  gives  some  warrant  to  the  observations 
which  I  have  just  hazarded.  "  I  am  not  so  fondly  attached 
to  ancient  usages,  however  beneficial  in  themselves,  as  to 
press  the  crude  and  hasty  revival  of  a  method  of  teaching, 

examine  so  many  of  the  children  of  his  parish,  sent  unto  him,  as  he 
shall  think  convenient,  in  some  part  of  this  Catechism."  And  again> 
"  all  fathers,  mothers,  masters  and  mistresses,  shall  cause  their  chil- 
dren, servants  and  apprentices,  who  have  not  learned  their  Cate- 
chism, to  come  to  the  Church  at  the  time  appointed,  and  obediently 
to  hear,  and  to  be  ordered  by  the  minister,  until  such  time  as  they 
have  learned  all  that  is  here  appointed  for  them  to  learn."  The 
Canon  (twenty-eighth  of  1832,)  prescribes  that  "  the  ministers  of 
this  Church,  who  have  charge  of  parishes  or  cures,  shall  not  only 
be  diligent  in  instructing  the  children  in  the  Catechism,  but  shall 
also,  by  stated  catechetical  lectures  and  instruction,  be  diligent  in  in- 
forming the  youth  and  others  in  the  doctrines,  constitution  and  litur- 
gy of  the  Church."— Am.  Ed.} 


76 


which,  at  least  in  its  ordinary  form,  has  proved,  on  expe- 
rience, unsuitable  to  the  habits  and  feelings  of  modern 
times."* 

What,  indeed,  is  more  likely  to  render  a  congregation 
impatient,  than  to  make  a  break  in  their  devotions,  for  the 
purpose  of  an  exhibition,  which  has  nothing  in  it  either  of 
an  instructive  or  impressive  nature  1  They  can  say  the 
Catechism  themselves,  and  they  are  aware,  that  the  chil- 
dren who  are  commanded  to  stand  up  before  them,  can 
also  repeat  it.  It  is  a  congregational,  and  not  a  scholastic 
exercise  that  is  required:  a  service  which  shall  employ 
men's  thoughts,  remind  them  of  that  which  they  have  for- 
gotten, or  explain  that  which  they  do  not  understand.  A 
well  known  manual,  equally  familiar  to  all  present,  repealed 
over  and  over  again,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  cannot  by 
any  possibility  produce  the  effect  contemplated  by  those 
who  enjoined  the  ordinance.  It  might  answer  some  good 
when  very  few  could  read,  and  when  the  children,  appren- 
tices, and  servants,  had  no  other  means  of  acquiring  the 
form  of  words,  contained  in  the  leading  articles  of  the 
Catechism,  than  from  the  mouth  of  the  priest,  as  he  dis- 
tinctly recited  them  from  the  desk  or  pulpit.  But  now, 
when  it  may  be  taken  for  granted,  that  the  form  is  well 
taught  elsewhere,  and  that  the  attendant  at  Church  is  de- 
sirous to  leave  the  principles,  or  at  all  events,  the  mere 
enunciation  of  Christian  doctrines,  and  to  go  on  unto  per- 
fection, it  is,  really,  nothing  but  disappointment  and  vexa- 
tion, if  he  be  detained  to  listen  to  the  same  elementary  ex- 
amination, without  the  chance  of  carrying  away  with  him, 
a  particle  of  additional  knowledge. 

•  Charge  of  1822,  p.  24,  3d  Edition. 


77 

Any  unvaried  monotonous  process  is  unable  to  awaken 
interest  either  in  the  examinant  or  by-stander,  and  there- 
fore,  even  the  best  exposition  of  the  Catechism,  if  it  be 
always  drawn  from  the  mouths  of  the  children  in  the  same 
order  of  question  and  answer,  would  become  so  cold  in  its 
style,  and  stiff  in  its  application,  as  to  excite  the  same  dis- 
relish as  the  Catechism  itself,  when  taught  by  rote  only. 
It  is  the  lesson-like  character  of  the  mode,  when  adopted 
in  literal  obedience  to  the  Rubric,  and  the  dull  task-work, 
which  the  querist,  the  respondent,  and  the  congregation 
feel  in  an  equal  degree,  which  have  rendered,  and  will 
continue  to  render,  the  old  method  uninviting,  and  there- 
fore uninfluential. 

Seeing  then,  that  the  verbal  construction  of  the  Injunc- 
tions, Canons,  and  Rubrics,  have  had  some  tendency  to 
defeat  the  object  proposed  by  them,  in  that  they  have  pre- 
scribed times  and  seasons,  and  induced  a  neglect,  or  cold 
performance  of  duty,  on  the  part  of  those  who  give  them- 
selves no  trouble  to  enquire  into  the  nature  and  duty  of 
catechising,  is  the  system  to  be  abandoned  altogether? 
Not  so,  but  it  becomes  a  question,  whether  it  may  not  be 
improved,  and  whether  a  spirit  of  emulation  may  not  be 
stirred  up  by  other  and  higher  motives  than  a  legislative 
enactment.  The  letter  of  the  law  being  dead,  or  considered 
so,  by  those  who  forget  their  subscriptions  and  declarations 
of  conformity,  is  there  not  some  ever  living  spirit  of  the 
rule  by  which  we  may  be  guided  and  governed  ? 

Your  Lordship  has  not  overlooked  this.  You  have  re- 
minded us,  that  we  are  to  consult  the  tenor  of  the  Liturgy 
and  services  of  the  Church,  and  there  we  shall  find  how 
solemnly  the  attention  of  the  pastor  and  his  people  is 
drawn  to  the  demands  of  their  mutual  relation  as  shepherd 
7* 


78 


and  fold,  and  to  the  conduct  of  both  parties  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  respective  duties.  "  Whether  we  look 
to  the  dedication  of  the  infant  to  God  by  the  ministry  of 
the  priest,  to  the  profession  of  faith  and  obedience  which 
is  made  in  his  presence  by  the  sponsors,  or  to  the  exhortation 
which  designates  their  duties,  and  specifies  the  instruction 
to  be  given  to  the  child,  we  discern  the  pervading  intention 
of  placing  the  rising  generation  in  the  view  of  the  minister, 
of  giving  them  in  the  tenderest  infancy  the  advantage  of 
his  paternal  protection,  and  sending  them  to  the  Church, 
to  be  publicly  instructed  by  him  in  faith  and  morals."* 


MOTIVES  DEKIVED  FROM  THE  BAPTISMAL  SERVICE. 

In  the  baptismal  service,  the  very  first  supplication 
which  the  priest  addresses  to  the  throne  of  Grace,  publicly 
before  the  congregation,-)*  is  that  "  the  child  may  be  re- 
ceived into  the  ark  of  Christ's  Church."  The  next  peti- 
tion is,  that  the  infant "  being  steadfast  in  faith,  joy ful  through 
hope,  and  rooted  in  charity,  may  so  pass  the  waves  of  this 
troublesome  world,  that  finally  he  may  come  to  the  land 

*  Charge  of  1822,  p.  21,  3d  Edition. 

j-  The  Rubric  directs  that  baptism  should  be  administered  upon 
Sundays  and  other  holy  days,  "  When  the  most  number  of  people 
come  together"  for  the  express  purpose  that  " every  man  present 
may  be  put  in  remembrance  of  his  own  profession  made  to  God." 
It  adds  "  in  his  baptism,"  but  can  the  reflecting  priest  forget  that  hie 
professions,  made  when  he  was  consecrated  to  God,  as  the  minister 
of  God's  word,  demand  something  of  him  also,  viz.  that  he  shall 
"  teach,  premonish,  feed,  and  provide  for  the  Lord's  family." 


79 


of  everlasting  life."  What  clergyman  is  so  dull,  or  so 
fanatical,  who  would  not  shrink  indignantly  from  the  re- 
proach, if  he  were  asked,  Do  you  presume,  then,  that  the 
prayers  of  the  Church,  without  any  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Church,  through  its  ministers,  are  to  go  on  accomplishing 
this  blessed  effect  1  When  the  child  arrives  at  years  of 
understanding,  if  he  shall  live  to  a  period  of  temptation, 
will  he  pass  safely  through  the  waves  of  this  troublesome 
world,  without  any  helping  hand,  without  any  spiritual 
guide  to  direct  him  ? 

Were  the  infant  left  here,  it  would  be  the  veriest  mock- 
ery, and  therefore  the  service  proceeds  to  speak  of  the 
rebuke  which  the  disciples  received  from  our  Lord,  when 
they  would  have  kept  little  children  from  him,  and  to  re- 
mind us,  by  implication,  that  we  are  to  receive  them,  not 
only  to  formularies,  but  to  instruction ;  not  only  at  the 
baptismal  font,  but  at  the  chair  of  the  catechist — to  acquaint 
them  with  the  nature,  as  well  as  with  the  words  of  Bap- 
tismal Regeneration. 

How  is  the  child,  who  "  is  dedicated  to  God  by  our 
office  and  ministry,"  to  "  remain  in  the  number  of  God's 
faithful  and  elect  children  through  Jesus  Christ,"  should 
length  of  days  be  extended  to  him,  unless  he  be  brought 
to  a  vital  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  through  our  office 
and  ministry  ?  It  is  mere  lip-service  "to  give  thanks  unto 
Almighty  God,  and  to  make  our  prayers  unto  him,  that 
this  child  may  lead  the  rest  of  his  life  according  to  this 
beginning,"  unless  we  ourselves,  to  the  utmost  of  our 
abilities,  obey  the  further  injunctions  of  the  Church,  and 
explain  to  him,  what  it  is,  "  to  confess  the  faith  of  Christ 
crucified,  and  manfully  to  fight  under  his  banner,  against 
sin,  the  world,  and  the  devil,  and  to  continue  Christ's 


*0 


faithful  soldier  and  servant  unto  his  life's  end."  Again, 
how  can  we  seriously  proceed  to  exhort  godfathers  and 
godmothers  to  "  remember  that  it  is  their  parts  and  duties 
to  see  that  the  infant  be  taught  what  a  solemn  vow,  prom- 
ise and  profession  he  hath  made,  and  to  provide  that  he 
may  learn  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  all  the  things  which 
a  Christian  ought  to  know  to  his  soul's  health,"  unless  we 
ourselves  are  prepared  to  be  at  our  posts,  when  the  time 
shall  come  and  to  teach  them  to  understand  the  samel 
Who  can  conceive  that  the  same  Church,  which  propounds 
the  form  and"  ministration  of  public  baptism,"  and  the  form 
of"  Catechism  to  be  learnt  of  every  person,  &c."  has  greater 
claims  upon  the  sponsors  who  are  to  see  that  infants  be 
taught,  than  upon  the  ministers  whose  duty  it  is  to  explain 
the  lesson  in  question  ? 


MOTIVES  DERIVED  FROM  THE  ORDINATION  SERVICE. 

But  a  more  sacred  appeal  yet  remains,  and  it  can  be 
shown,  that  what  a  sponsor  undertakes  for  his  god-child, 
the  parochial  minister  undertakes  for  "  all  such  as  are,  or 
shall  be  committed  to  his  charge,"  within  the  extent  of  a 
possible  quantity  of  duty — that  is,  as  far  as  it  is  practicable. 
Yes,  there  is  a  solemn  account  which  every  Parish  Priest 
has  to  render,  in  conformity  with  his  Ordination  vow,  infi- 
nitely beyond  all  the  obligation  which  Acts  of  Parliament, 
Constitutions,  or  Canons,  can  impose.  He  may  evade  the 
letter  of  these,  and  may  persuade  himself  that  he  has  cate- 
chised, and  taught  and  initiated,  according  to  Rubrick  or 


81 


Canon,  if  during  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  he  have  gath- 
ered together  the  school  children,  or  others  of  his  parish, 
about  the  rails  of  the  altar,  or  reading-desk,  and  questioned 
them  as  to  their  proficiency  in  saying  by  heart  the  form  of 
the  Church  catechism.  But  a  reference  to  the  Ordination 
Service  will  lead  to  a  bitter  reprehension  of  himself,  should 
he  not  have  carried  his  instructions  to  a  much  greater  ex- 
tent, and  questioned  personally  as  many  young  people  as 
he  could  induce  to  answer,  concerning  "  the  reason  of  the 
hope  wheh  is  in  them." 

I  conceive,  therefore,  that  your  Lordship,  in  common 
with  the  other  Prelates  of  the  realm,  would  be  able  to  ad- 
monish and  reprove  a  negligent  catechist  with  irresistible 
authority,  by  censures  resting  solely  on  the  solemn  en- 
gagements made  by  Deacons  and  Priests  under  the  impo- 
sition of  hands,  and  the  awful  sponsion  at  the  altar.  "  The 
questions,"  says  Burnet,  "  are  put  in  the  name  of  God  and 
of  his  Church,  which  make  the  answers  to  them  to  be  of 
the  nature  of  vows  and  oaths,  so  that  if  men  do  make  con- 
science of  any  thing,  and  if  it  is  possible  to  strike  terror  in- 
to them,  the  forms  of  our  Ordination  are  the  most  effec- 
tually contrived  for  that  end  that  could  have  been  framed."* 

"  It  appertained  to  the  office  of  a  Deacon — to  instruct 
the  youth  in  the  catechism. — Will  you  do  this  gladly  and 
willingly?'1''  demands  the  Bishop. 

"  I  will  do  so  by  the  help  of  God!"  is  the  answer. 

That  the  Deacon  may  understand  that  it  is  no  hasty  and 
formal  compliance  with  this  and  other  duties  of  his  profes- 
sion, which  is  required,  but  an  essential  performance  of 
them,  he  is  further  asked, — 

*  Pastoral  Care. 


M  Will  you  apply  all  your  diligence  to  frame  and  fashion 
your  own  life,  and  the  lives  of  your  families,  according  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ :  and  to  make  both  yourselves  and 
them,  as  much  as  in  you  lieth,  wholesome  examples  of  the 
flock  of  Christ  1 " 

"  I  will  do  so,  the  Lord  being  my  helper." 

In  the  Ordination  of  Priests,  the  duty  of  pastoral  and  cate- 
chetical instruction,  as  independent  of  that  of  public  preach- 
ing, and  in  addition  to  it,  is  so  distinctly  marked,  and  se- 
riously denned,  that  none  could  evade  it,  without  the  help 
of  a  supposed  obedience  to  the  letter  of  the  Canons  and 
Rubric. 

"  And  now  again  we  exhort  you,  in  the  name  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  you  have  in  remembrance  into  how 
high  a  dignity,  and  to  how  weighty  an  office  and  charge, 
ye  are  called :  that  is  to  say,  to  be  messengers,  watchmen, 
and  stewards,  of  the  Lord ;  to  teach,  to  premonish,  to  feed 
and  provide  for  the  Lord's  family,  and  to  seek/or  Christ's 
sheep  that  are  scattered  abroad,  and  for  his  children  who 
are  in  the  midst  of  this  naughty  world,  that  they  may  be 
saved  through  Christ  for  ever.  If  it  shall  happen  that  any 
member  thereof  take  any  hurt  or  hindrance,  by  reason  of 
your  negligence,  ye  know  the  greatness  of  the  fault,  and 
also  the  horrible  punishment  that  will  ensue.  Wherefore 
consider,  within  yourselves,  the  end  of  your  ministry  to- 
wards the  children  of  God,  towards  the  spouse,  and  body 
of  Christ ;  and  see  that  you  never  cease  your  labour,  your 
care  and  diligence,  until  you  have  done  all  that  lieth  in 
you,  according  to  your  bounden  duty,  to  bring  all  such  as 
are,  or  shall  be,  committed  to  your  charge,  unto  that  agree- 
ment in  the  faith  and  knowledge  of  God,  and  to  that  ripe- 
ness and  perfectness  of  age  in  Christ,  that  there  be  no  place 


83 


left  among  you,  either  for  error  in  religion,  or  for  vicious- 
ness  in  life,"  &c. 

After  this  exhortation  follow  these  questions ; — 

"  Are  you  determined  out  of  the  said  Scriptures  to  in- 
struct the  people  committed  to  your  charge"  <$pc? 

Answer — "  I  am  so  determined  by  God's  grace." 

"  Will  you  then  give  your  faithful  diligence,  so  that  you 
may  teach  the  people  committed  to  your  care  and  charge, 
to  keep  and  observe  (he  same  ?" 

Answer. — "I  will  do  so  by  the  help  of  God." 

"  Will  you  be  ready,  with  all  faithful  diligence,  to  banish 
and  drive  away  all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrines,  con- 
trary to  God's  word  :  and  to  use  both  public  and  private 
monitions  and  exhortations,  as  well  to  the  sick,  as  to  the 
whole,  within  your  cure,  as  need  shall  require,  and  occa- 
sion shall  be  given  ?" 

Answei — "  1  will,  the  Lord  being  my  helper." 

Such  are  the  duties  of  Catechising  and  of  pastoral  in- 
struction, according  to  the  ordination  engagements.  The 
Ordination  Service  defines  them  ;  and  the  bishop  who  or- 
dains, imperatively  exacts  them,  as  an  obligation  binding 
on  the  souls  of  priests  and  deacons,  not  only  according  to 
the  letter,  but  to  the  spirit,  and  the  full  meaning  of  the 
words  in  which  it  is  conveyed.  It  is  a  stipulation  entered 
upon  at  the  altar :  it  is  a  covenant  ratified  before  God, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation,  that  the  person 
who  is  admitted  into  Holy  Orders,  "  shall  never  cease  his 
labour,  care,  or  diligence,  till  he  hath  done  all  that  lieth 
in  him,  both  by  public  and  private  monitions  and  exhorta- 
tions to  bring  those  committed  to  his  charge  to  the  ripe- 
ness and  perfectness  of  Christ.'''' 

« My  advice,"  said  Bishop  Burnet  in  his  Discourse  on 


84 


the  Pastoral  Care,  "  is,  that  those  who  are  already  in  Or- 
ders, will  at  least  four  times  a  year,  on  the  Ordination  Sun- 
days, read  over  the  offices  of  the  degree  of  the  Church  in 
which  they  are ;  and  will  particularly  consider  the  charge 
that  was  given,  and  the  answers  that  were  made  by  them : 
and  then  ask  themselves  as  before  God,  who  will  judge 
them  at  the  great  day,  upon  their  religious  performance  of 
them,  whether  they  had  been  true  to  them  or  not." 


A  MISTAKEN  IDEA,  THAT  THE  NECESSITY  OF  CATECHISING 
IS  SUPERSEDED  BY  THE  NATIONAL  SCHOOL  SYSTEM.* 

Your  Lordship  has  expressed  yourself  unwilling  to  im- 
pute the  discontinuance  of  catechising  to  the  "  indolence 
of  the  parochial  Clergy."  Indolence  is  not.  I  would  hope, 
the  fault  of  the  Clergy  of  the  day ;  and  if  there  be  any 
disinclination  to  exercise  the  functions  of  catechists,  it  is 
more  likely  to  arise  from  an  erroneous  persuasion,  that 
their  other  labours  have  been  such  as  to  render  it  unneces- 
sary, than  from  any  unwillingness  to  encounter  personal 
trouble.  There  is  scarcely  a  parish,  in  your  Lordship's 
diocese  at  least,  where  a  school  of  some  description,  Sun- 
day or  weekly,  has  not  been  instituted,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  parochial  minister,  for  the  religious  im- 
provement of  the  children  of  the  poor.  To  the  internal 
management  of  such  establishments  the  Clergyman  devotes 
much  of  his  time  and  attention :  he  is  present  at  examina- 

[  •  Has  there  not  been  among  us  the  same  mistaken  reliance  on 
the  Sunday  Sch ool  system  ? — Am.  Ed.] 


85 


tions, — he  provides  that  scriptural  lessons  shall  form  the 
principal  subjects  of  instruction ;  and  all  being  under  his 
immediate  care,  he  believes  that  he  does  enough,  and 
obeys  the  Rubric  and  the  Canon,  while  he  thus  "  causes 
the  children,  who  have  not  learnt  the  Catechism,  to  come 
to  hear  and  be  ordered,  till  they  have  learned  the  same." 
I  am  confident  there  is  so  much  good  intention  in  these  and 
other  labours  of  the  generality  of  my  Clerical  brethren, 
that  there  are  but  few  of  them,  who  could  not  be  soon 
brought  to  admit,  that  in  this  superintendence  of  parish 
schools,  they  are  performing  only  half  of  their  catecheti- 
cal duties,  and  that  they  are  falling  very  far  short  of  the 
good  which  they  conscientiously  propose  to  themselves. 
Parents,  and  parishioners  at  large,  in  their  own  persons, 
are  not  benefited  by  this  substitution  for  the  old  practice  ; 
young  persons  of  a  higher  degree,  who  are  not  in  the  habit 
of  receiving  instruction  in  parochial  schools, — servants, 
apprentices, — and  all,  at  that  dangerous  crisis,  between 
childhood  and  maturity,  lose  the  advantage  of  those  prac- 
tical and  familiar  illustrations  of  divine  truth,  which  the 
interrogatory  system  affords,  when  it  is  transferred  from 
the  Church  to  the  school-room.  Catechising  should  al- 
ways be  a  congregational  service  ;  for  well-ordered  ques- 
tions draw  out  the  attention,  and  quicken  the  apprehension, 
not  only  of  those  who  have  to  make  a  reply,  but  of  those 
who  are  mere  listeners,  and  take  no  further  part  in  the 
service.* 

But  this  is  not  the  only  reason  why  the  institution  of 
parish  schools  should  not  be  permitted  to  dispense  with  the 

[•Experience  affords  abundant  demonstration  of  the  truth  of 
this  statement. — Jm.  Ed.] 

8 


86 


primitive  custom.  The  more  general  that  education  be- 
comes, the  more  imperative  is  the  duty  of  the  parochial 
minister  to  ascertain  its  effects  upon  the  minds  of  his  young 
flock,  beyond  the  period  of  their  probation  as  eleemosy- 
nary scholars.  If  he  have  laid  the  foundation,  he  should 
carry  up  the  building,  or,  at  least,  he  should  make  him- 
self acquainted  with  the  scriptural  soundness  of  the  super- 
structure. As  he  has  been  instrumental  in  giving  his 
youthful  parishioners  new  powers  of  acquiring  good  and 
evil, — he  should  continue  to  direct  their  application.  He 
should  provide  wholesome  food  for  the  craving  appetite 
which  he  has  excited ;  and  by  examination  in  the  face  of 
the  congregation,  should  prove  that  he  is  not  indifferent  to 
the  spiritual  wants  and  interests  of  ripening  years. 

As  long  as  Sunday,  parish,  and  national  schools  are 
used  as  helps  to  the  parochial  clergy,  and  the  services  of 
the  schoolmasters  therein  engaged,  are  employed  to  pre- 
pare children  for  their  appointed  catechist,  the  incumbent 
or  his  curate,  and  to  relieve  him  from  the  toilsome  work 
of  primary  instruction,  they  will  continue  to  be  beneficial 
in  no  ordinary  degree.  But  whenever  they  shall  be  re- 
garded as  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  elementary 
training  in  religious  knowledge, — and  the  ordained  guide 
to  Christian  truth  shall  think  himself  justified  in  deputing 
his  catechetical  duties  to  an  incompetent  lay-assistant,  and 
in  breaking  the  tie  of  connexion  between  himself  and  his 
flock,  effects  will  follow,  which  may,  in  the  end,  direct  the 
engine  of  national  education  against  the  hand  that  first 
applied  it.* 

*  "  Do  the  times  then  no  longer  require  it  V  asks  Archdeacon 
Bay  ley,  in  his  eloquent  and  animated  Charge;  "far  other  is  the 


87 


ERRONEOUS  ESTIMATE  OF  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  CATECHI- 
SING. 

A  late  Prelate,  Bishop  Edmund  Law,  who  published,  in 
the  last  century,  an  excellent  "  Dissertation  on  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  Catechising,"  attributed  the  discontinuance 
of  the  service  to  two  causes :  First,  a  low  estimate  of  its 
importance  on  the  part  of  some ;  and,  secondly,  a  sense 
of  its  difficulties  on  the  part  of  others.  "  At  present  this 
is  a  work  which  many,  either  discouraged  by  disuse,  and 
the  despicable  notions  which  are  apt  to  be  entertained  of 
it,  or  deterred  by  its  difficulty,  are  extremely  shy  of  under- 
taking. Some  have  not  the  desire,  some  not  the  resolution 
to  set  about  it !" 

case.  Much  of  that  ignorant  impatience  of  discipline,  that  ever 
learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
that  heartless  indifference,  which  usurps  the  name  of  liberality,  and 
that  licentiousness  of  self-will,  which  marks  the  latter  days,  as  it 
disgraced  the  worst  period,  perhaps,  of  our  annals  ;  much  of  all 
this,  as  well  as  of  viciousness  of  life  and  error  in  religion,  is  owing 
to  '  ungroundedness  in  the  points  of  Catechism.'  Equally  fallacious 
is  the  notion,  that  Sunday  Schools,  and  more  especially  the  national 
system,  preclude  its  use,  or  remove  the  minister's  responsibility. 
No  ;  but  one  of  the  great  objects,  one  of  the  prime  merits  of  both, 
is  to  train  and  prepare  the  rising  generation  for  the  hands  of  the 
Clergyman,  to  facilitate  thereby  his  labour,  and  to  make  the  neces- 
sity of  public  exhibition  less  frequent.  But  still  his  constant  super- 
visal  and  personal  direction  of  the  whole  machinery  are  equally,  or 
more  than  ever  demanded — they  are,  I  had  nearly  said,  all  in  all. 
Through  him,  moreover,  the  children  are  to  profess,  in  Church, 
what  they  have  been  taught  in  the  school,  and  he  is  bound  not 
merely  to  listen  to  a  formal  and  cold  repetition,  hut  also  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  term,  to  'examine,  and  to  instruct.'  " 


88 


With  respect  to  the  first  cause  assigned,  I  can  easily 
understand  that  the  younger  clergy  may  learn  to  entertain 
a  contemptible  opinion  of  that  which  their  elders  and  su- 
periors refuse  to  practise. 

Where  it  is  the  custom  to  commit  the  sacred  charge  as 
a  work  of  drudgery,  to  lay  persons,  whose  habits,  condi- 
tion, and  attainments,  are  unequal  to  it, — there  it  may  be 
concluded,  that  inexperienced  and  unreflecting  Clergymen 
will  be  indisposed  to  enter  upon  a  work,  which  has  been 
rendered  distasteful  by  neglect  and  abuse.  But  will  the 
Church  of  England  ever  sink  so  low,  as  that  the  great  body 
of  her  ministers  shall  openly  hold  in  contempt  a  practice, 
which  has  been  sanctified  by  the  example  of  Evangelists 
and  Apostles,  and  of  men  eminent  for  their  rank  in  the 
Church,  for  their  piety  and  attainments,  from  the  first 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  present  hour?  To  devote 
public  and  private  attention  to  the  young,  and  the  ignorant, 
and  the  dull, — to  explain  to  these  the  first  principles  of 
Christianity,  by  a  slow  and  wearisome  process, — to  ques- 
tion, and  to  consent  to  be  questioned  in  the  face  of  the  con- 
gregation,— to  have  recourse  to  one  expedient  after  another, 
for  the  purpose  of  touching  the  heart,  or  stirring  up  the 
conscience,  or  enlightening  the  understanding, — to  aim 
every  discourse  at  the  same  mark, — to  adapt  the  system 
to  different  tempers  and  capacities, — and  never  to  consider 
the  work  done,  until  every  term  used  is  thoroughly  under- 
stood,— every  vow  and  promise  distinctly  explained,  and 
every  condition  of  the  covenant  made  plain, — this  may  be 
laborious,  and  trying,  and  oftentimes  disheartening,  but  it 
never  can  be  pronounced  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of 
the  most  elevated  station. 


89 


CATECHISING  PRACTISED  BY  THE  AFOSTLES  AND  THEIR 
SUCCESSORS. 

I  have  said  that  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists  themselves 
did  not  disdain  that  patient,  simple,  and  interrogatory  mode 
of  instruction,  which  is  called  catechising.*  Added  to  the 
concurrent  voice  of  antiquity  f  to  this  effect,  we  have  the 
more  unquestionable  evidence  of  Scripture,  gathered  from 
the  application  of  the  Greek  word,  from  whence  the  term 
now  in  use  is  derived. 

Fortified  with  this  etymological  argument,  it  was  the 
opinion  of  Cave  and  Grotius,|  that  St.  Peter  alluded  to  the 

*  It  was  principally  by  catechising,  that  the  religion  of  Jesus,  as 
Hegesippus  observes,  was  in  a  few  years  spread  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  known  world. — Bishop  Mant. 

By  catechising,  under  heaven,  was  planted  the  Apostolical  Church  ; 
by  catechising,  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  was  sent  forth  into  all  lands. 
—Archdeacon  Bayley. 

St.  Paul's  converts  had  all  been  instructed  in  the  faith,  as  the  cus- 
tom was  catechetically. — Rev.  J.  B.  Sumner. 

\  The  author  of  the  Epistle  called  "Clementis  ad  Jacobura  Epis- 
tola,"  (who,  at  all  events,  expressed  the  traditionary  belief  of  tha 
early  Church,  at  whatever  period  he  himself  may  have  lived,)  pro- 
fesses to  give  an  account  of  St.  Peter's  last  charge,  in  which  the 
Apostle  is  made  to  speak  of  himself,  as  having  catechised  at  Rome. 
"  They  who  catechise,  should  be  well  rooted  in  the  faith,  for  the  sal- 
vation of  men's  souls  is  at  stake.  Wherefore  it  is  important  that  he 
who  administers,  and  teaches,  shall  accommodate  himself  to  the 
various  opinions  and  dispositions  of  such  as  he  may  have  to  teach. 
It  is  indispensable  that  a  catechist  be  learned,  blameless,  practised 
and  perspicuous  in  his  mode  of  instruction.  Such  as  you  will  find 
Clement  to  be,  who,  when  I  am  gone,  will  succeed  me." — Clem,  ad 
Jac.  Epist.  apud  Cot.  Pat.  p.  619. 

i  Bingham's  Orig.  Sacr.  B.  xi.  ch.  7.  5.  3. 
8* 


90 


catechetical  system,  when  he  spoke  of  the  "  answer  of  a 
good  conscience  towards  God :"  and  it  has  been  thought 
still  more  probable,  that  Philip's  conversation  with  the 
eunuch,  before  he  baptized  him,  had  some  reference  to  the 
Apostolical  practice  of  teaching  by  question  and  answer. 
Cyril  distinctly  relates,  in  terms,  that  St.  Paul  catechised. 
"Paul,"  says  he,  "preached  the  Gospel  from  Jerusalem 
to  Illyria,  and  taught  at  Rome  catechetically"*  [xatrfitf- 
]  Cyril,  Catechesis,  xvii.  16. 
This  statement  receives  strong  confirmation  from  the 
two  last  verses  of  Acts  xxviii.  "  And  Paul  dwelt  two 
whole  years  in  his  own  hired  house,  [at  Rome,]  and  re- 
ceived all  that  came  unto  him,  preaching  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  teaching  those  things  which  concern  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  There  is  manifestly  meant  to  be,  in  this 
passage,  an  account  of  two  modes  which  the  Apostle  adop- 

*  St.  Paul's  general  style  affords  evidence  to  this  effect.  From 
the  2d  chapter  to  the  end  of  the  12th  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  there  appears  a  manner  of  putting  his  subject,  which  is  pe- 
culiarly characteristic  of  the  Apostle,  who,  according  to  Cyril,  cate- 
chised at  Rome.    For  example — 

Q.  What  advantage  then  hath  the  Jew?  or  what  profit  is  there 
of  circumcision?    Rom.  iii.  1. 

A.  Much  every  way — chiefly,  because  that  unto  them  were  com- 
mitted the  oracles  of  God.    V.  2. 

Q.  For  what  if  some  did  not  believe !  shall  their  unbelief  make 
the  faith  of  God  without  effect  ?    V.  3. 

A.  God  forbid.  Yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a  liar,  as  it 
is  written,  That  thou  mightest  be  justified  in  thy  sayings,  and  migh- 
test  overcome  when  thou  art  judged.    V.  4. 

Q.  What,  then,  are  we  better  than  they  ?    V.  9. 

A.  No,  in  no  wise,  for  we  have  before  proved  both  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles, that  they  are  all  under  sin.    V.  9.  &c.  &c. 


01 


ted  of  promulgating  the  faith.  Comparing  it  with  Acts  v. 
42, — "  they  ceased  not  to  teach,  and  preach  Jesus  Christ," 
— with  Acts  xv.  35, — "  Paul  and  Barnabas  continued  in 
Antioch,  teaching  and  preaching  the  word  of  the  Lord," 
— and  with  1  Tim.  i.  11,  "  VVhereunto  I  am  appointed  a 
preacher,  and  an  apostle,  and  a  teacher" — and  finding 
that  the  term  itself,  Catechise,*  is  used  three  times  by 
St.  Paul  himself,  and  four  times  by  St.  Luke,|  the  sacred 
historian  of  St.  Paul, — I  can  have  no  doubt  that  the  cate- 
chetical form  of  teaching  was  adopted  by  the  Apostles  as 
the  most  efficient,  though  the  most  humble  and  fatiguing 
method,  of  explaining  the  first  principles  of  the  Gospel. 
St.  Paul's  charge  to  Timothy  was,  that  he  should  be  "  apt 
to  teach,"  [SiSaxt txox]  (twice  this  expression  was  repeated,) 
"  in  meekness  instructing  "%  [itaibtvovea^ 


THE  ATTENTION  PAID  TO  IT  BY  THE  EARLY  CHURCH. 

In  conformity  with  this  precept,  the  highest  officers  in 
the  primitive  Church,  and  the  most  distinguished  of  her  or- 
naments, exercised  the  functions  of  Catechists,  with  a  spi- 
rit that  took  delight  in  teaching  even  the  first  elements, — 
with  gentleness  that  could  not  be  moved  by  the  perverse- 
ness  of  their  catechumens,  and  with  patience  which  was 
proof  against  all  fatigue  or  disgust. 

*  See  the  Introduction. 

f  Luke  i.  4.  Acts  xviii.  25.  xxi.  21,  24.  Rom.  ii.  18.  1  Cor. 
xiv.  19.    Gal.  vi.  6. 

%  1  Tim.  ii.  2.    2  Tim.  ii.  24,  25. 


9-2 


"  The  chair  of  the  catechist  of  old  was  filled  by  the 
highest  authorities,  the  finest  talents,  and  the  deepest  learn- 
ing,"* and  among  the  number  of  those  whom  I  would 
bring  to  the  recollection  of  such  as  undervalue  the  humble 
task  of  interrogatory  instruction,  was  Pantasnus.f  His 
taste  in  elegant  and  classic  literature  was  so  refined,  that 
he  was  called  the  "Sicilian  bee"  by  his  contemporaries; 
and  there  is  an  incident  in  his  life,  which,  connected  with 
his  literary  acquirements,  may  induce  not  a  few  to  take 
more  than  common  interest  in  his  history.  Like  our  own  la- 
mented Heber,  he  made  a  sacrifice  of  his  dearest  interests, 
and  went  a  voluntary  Missionary  to  India.  Though  Alex- 
andria, the  place  of  his  abode,  contained  all  that  could  gratify 
a  mind  ardent  in  the  pursuit  of  science  and  letters,  yet  he 
cheerfully  regarded  an  invitation  by  some  Indian  Ambas- 
sadors, as  a  call  of  Providence,  and  journeyed  to  regions 
beyond  the  Indus,  with  that  singleness  of  purpose,  which 
proved  his  heart  to  be  with  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  his 
faith,  and  chose  a  rugged  path  which  nothing  could  smooth, 
but  the  strongest  sense  of  Christian  duty. 

Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Heraclias,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  and  Origen,  were  Catechists ;  and  the  latter 
was  so  eminently  successful  in  proceeding  upon  the  golden 
rule,  line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept,  that  he  not 
only  achieved  conversions  among  the  more  ignorant  and 
uninformed,  but  among  accomplished  scholars.^  Heathen 
philosophers,  and  Christians  by  outward  profession,  who 
had  departed  from  the  purer  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  were 
brought  to  the  obedience  of  the  Cross,  by  listening  acciden- 

•  Archdeacon  Bayley.  f  KaTo^a-eat  irfswr*  iVarasAusi/.  Euseb. 
t  Euseb.  vi.  18. 


93 


tally  to  the  close  questions  which  he  put  to  his  catechu- 
mens, and  to  the  truth  which  he  illustrated  through  their 
answers.  This  is  one  of  the  important  advantages  result- 
ing from  public  catechising.  The  instructor  reaches  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  by-standers,  through  queries  and 
observations  meant  for  young  neophytes.  The  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel  thus  triumphs  unexpectedly  over  the  wisdom 
of  the  wise ;  and  praise  is  perfected  out  of  the  mouths  of 
babes  and  sucklings,  for  "  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise,  and  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  arc  mighty, 
and  base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  that  are  despised 
hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things,  which  are  not,  to  bring 
to  nought  things  that  are,  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his 
presence." 

It  will  be  enough  to  mention  two  other  names,  selected 
from  the  Fathers,  of  men,  renowned  in  their  generation, 
who  thought  it  no  condescension  to  labour  in  futherance 
of  that  sacred  ordinance,  which  your  Lordship  has  taken 
such  pains  to  press  upon  the  attention  of  your  Clergy. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  and  Augustine  of  Hippo,  are  no  mean 
names  in  the  annals  of  the  Church.  The  first  has  left 
behind  him  proofs  in  his  "  Catechesis,"  that  a  catechist's 
duties  are  not  the  least  important  among  the  pastoral 
functions.  The  second  assisted  the  labours  of  a  young 
deacon  by  a  treatise  on  Catechising,  which  none  can  read 
without  feeling  all  the  best  energies  of  his  nature  invited 
to  exercise  themselves  in  the  same  department  of  the  Lord's 
vineyard. 


04 


THE  OPINIONS  OF  THE  EARLY  REFORMERS,  AND  OTHER 
EMINENT  MEN. 

As  nothing  extended  the  doctrines  of  the  primitive  Church 
more  than  diligent  Catechising,  so  has  the  enlargement  of 
the  Protestant  faith  been  effected  by  the  same  means. 
From  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  Reformation,  there  has  never 
been  a  time,  when  its  zealous  advocates  have  entirely  neg- 
lected it.  The  sixteenth  century  produced  a  host  of  cate- 
chists  and  catechisms.  Luther  wrote  two,  and  declared 
that  catechising  afforded  him  more  delight  than  any  other 
duty.*  I  have  already  noticed  what  was  done  in  England, 
to  promote  this  service,  in  the  infancy  of  the  Established 
Church;  and  however  lax  at  different  periods  may  have 
been  the  conduct  of  too  great  a  portion  of  the  Clergy  of 
the  land,  yet  the  sentiments  and  the  practice  of  our  more 
distinguished  divines  have  always  been  in  this  respect  strict- 
ly Apostolical. 

"  There  is  no  employment  in  the  world,"  says  Bishop 
Hall,  "  wherein  God's  ministers  can  so  profitably  employ 
themselves,  as  in  this  of  plain  and  familiar  catechising. 
What  is  a  building  without  a  foundation?  If  this  ground- 
work therefore  be  not  surely  laid,  all  their  divine  discourses 
(for  such  their  sermons  are)  lie  upon  the  loose  sand,  and 
are  easily  washed  away  by  the  insinuative  suggestions  of 
false  teachers.  As  for  matter  of  belief,  where  the  founda- 
tion is  surely  laid  of  the  doctrines  of  faith,  contained  in  the 
Apostolic,  Nicene,  Atkanasian  Creeds  ;  and  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Sacraments,  briefly  comprised  in  our  publicly 
allowed  catechism ;  I  see  no  reason  but  to  think  our  peo- 

*  See  Mant's  Notes  on  the  Catechism. 


95 


pie  so  sufficiently  defenced  against  the  danger  of  error,  that 
no  heretical  machinations  could  be  able  to  batter  or  under- 
mine them.  And  surely,  if  ever  there  were  or  can  be  a 
time,  wherein  this  duty  of  catechising  were  fit  to  be  en- 
forced,  it  is  this  upon  which  we  are  fallen,  when  the  souls 
of  Christian  people  are  so  hard  laid  at,  not  only  by  Papery, 
Anabaptism,  Antinomianism,  Pelagianism ;  but  by  the 
confounding  and  hellish  heresies  of  Socinianism,  Antitrini- 
tarianism,  prodigious  mischiefs ;  tending  not  only  to  the 
disturbance  of  our  peace,  but  to  the  utter  destruction  of 
Christianity." — From  the  Peace  Maker. — Sec.  23. 

»  There  is  no  one  thing  of  which  I  repent  so  much," 
said  the  same  prelate,  "  as  not  to  have  bestowed  more  hours 
in  this  public  exercise  of  catechising  ;  in  regard  whereof 
I  could  quarrel  with  my  very  sermons,  and  wish  that  a 
great  part  of  them  had  been  exchanged  for  this  preaching 
conference." 

"  Great  scholars,"  said  the  celebrated  Usher,  in  a  Ser- 
mon preached  before  king  James  the  First,  "  possibly  may 
think,  that  it  stands  not  so  well  with  their  credit  to  stoop 
thus  low,  and  to  spend  so  much  of  their  time  in  teaching 
these  rudiments  and  first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
But  they  should  consider,  that  the  laying  the  foundation 
skilfully,  as  it  is  the  matter  of  greatest  importance  in  the 
whole  building,  so  it  is  the  very  masterpiece  of  the  wisest 
builder.  According  to  the  grace  of  God  which  is  given 
unto  me,  as  a  wise  master-builder,  I  have  laid  the  founda- 
tion ;  saith  the  great  Apostle,  1  Cor.  iii.  10.  And  let  the 
learnedest  of  all  try  it  whenever  we  please,  we  shall  find, 
that  to  lay  the  ground-work  rightly  (that  is,  to  apply  our- 
selves unto  the  capacity  of  the  common  auditory,  and  to 
make  an  ignorant  man  understand  these  mysteries  in  some 


96 


good  measure)  will  put  us  to  the  trial  of  our  skill,  and 
trouble  us  a  great  deal  more,  than  if  we  were  to  discuss  a 
controversy,  or  handle  a  subtle  point  of  learning  in  the 
schools. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe,  that  Herbert's  charac- 
ter of  "the  Country  Parson"  was  drawn  from  real  life. 
His  biographer,  Isaac  Walton,  relates,  that  his  own  con- 
duct was  a  practical  comment  upon  the  rules  which  he 
laid  down  in  that  delightful  treatise.  "  In  his  first  sermon 
to  his  parishioners,  he  made  it  his  humble  request,  that 
they  would  be  constant  to  the  afternoon's  service  and  cate- 
chising, and  showed  them  convincing  reasons  why  he  de- 
sired it ;  and  his  obliging  example  and  persuasions,  brought 
them  to  a  conformity  to  his  desires."  With  this  evidence 
before  us,  we  may  conclude  that  his  twenty-first  chapter, 
entitled,  "  the  Parson  Catechising,"  is  an  exact  description 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  most  able  and  pious  Clergy  of 
that  period,  were  in  the  habit  of  performing  this  duty. 

"The  country  parson  values  catechising  highly, — he 
useth  and  prefcrreth  the  ordinary  Church  Catechism,  partly 
for  obedience  to  authority,  partly  for  uniformity  sake,  that 
the  same  common  truths  may  be  every  where  professed, 
especially  since  many  remove  from  parish  to  parish,  who 
like  Christian  soldiers,  are  to  give  the  word,  and  to  satisfy 
the  congregation  by  their  Catholic  answers.  He  exacts  of 
all  the  doctrines  of  the  Catechism  :  of  the  younger  sort  the 
very  words  :  of  the  elder,  the  substance.  Those  he  cate- 
cKiseth  publicly ;  these  privately,  giving  age  honour,  ac- 
cording to  the  apostle's  rules.  He  requires  all  to  be  pre- 
sent at  catechising :  first  for  the  authority  of  the  work, 
secondly,  that  parents  and  masters,  as  they  hear  the  an- 
swers prove,  may,  when  they  come  home,  either  commend 


or  reprove,  either  reward  or  punish  :  thirdly,  that  those  of 
the  elder  sort,  who  are  nofwell  grounded,  may  then  by  an 
honourable  way,  take  occasion  to  be  better  instructed ; 
fourthly,  that  those  who  are  well  grown  in  the  knowledge 
of  religion,  may  examine  their  grounds,  review  their  er- 
rors, and  by  occasion  of  both  enlarge  their  meditations. 
When  once  all  have  learnt  the  words  of  the  Catechism,  he 
thinks  it  the  most  useful  way  that  a  pastor  can  take,  to  go 
oyer  the  same,  but  in  other  words.  How  many  say  the 
catechism  by  rote,  as  parrots,  without  ever  piercing  into 
the  sense  of  it.  In  this  course  the  order  of  the  catechism 
would  be  kept,  but  the  rest  varied,  as  thus :  In  the  Creed, 
— How  came  this  world  to  be  as  it  is?  Was  it  made,  or 
came  it  by  chance?  Who  made  it?  Did  you  see  God 
make  it?  Then  there  are  some  things  to  be  believed 
that  are  not  seen?  Is  this  the  nature  of  belief?  Is  not 
Christianity  full  of  such  things  as  are  not  to  be  seen,  but 
believed  ?  You  said  God  made  the  world  ;  Who  is  God  ? 
and  so  forward,  requiring  answers  to  all  these,  and  helping 
and  cherishing  the  answerer,  by  making  the  questions  very 
plain  by  comparisons,  and  making  much  even  of  a  word 
of  truth  from  him." 

Baxter,  though  a  non-conformist,  attributed  much  of  his 
success  at  Kidderminster  to  his  adherence  to  catechising, 
as  a  regular  system.  "  When  I  set  upon  a  personal  con- 
ference with  each  family,"  said  he,  "  and  catechising  them, 
there  were  very  few  families  in  all  the  town,  that  refused 
to  come." 

Bishop  Burnet  catechised  three  times  a  week,  while  he 
was  the  incumbent  of  Saltown  in  Scotland,  and  even  after 
his  consecration  to  the  see  of  Salisbury,  he  examined  the 
youth  of  the  two  great  schools  of  the  town  in  the  cathedral 
9 


OS 


Church,  every  week  during  the  season  of  Lent.  To  enu- 
merate all  the  great  names,  Wake,  Seeker,  &c.,who  have 
dedicated  their  labours  to  the  same  cause,  would  be  to  ad- 
duce a  «  cloud  of  witnesses  "  to  its  expediency. 


THE  SUPPOSED  DIFFICULTIES  OF  CATECHISING. 


Another  cause,  which  the  late  Bishop  Law,  thought 
might  have  its  effect  in  contributing  to  the  neglect  of  cate- 
chising, is  one,  which  in  the  present  age  cannot  be  fairly 
admitted.  "  Some  deterred  by  its  difficulties  have  not  the 
resolution."  There  are  so  many  helps  in  the  shape  of  ex- 
positions and  illustrations  of  the  Catechism,  and  the  parish 
minister  is,  in  most  places,  so  accustomed  to  address  young 
persons,  in  the  common  examinations,  during  his  superin- 
tendence of  National  or  Sunday  Schools,  that  it  would  be 
a  reproach  to  the  Clergy,  to  allow  any  weight  whatever 
to  such  a  plea.  Timidity  and  hesitation  there  naturally 
will  be  on  the  part  of  many,  whose  duty  calls  them  to  stand 
forth  in  the  face  of  a  congregation,  and  to  deliver  such  un- 
premeditated observations,  as  the  nature  of  a  child's  answer 
may  require :  but  very  little  practice,  and  a  heart  fairly 
enlisted  in  the  service,  will  soon  give  both  confidence  to  the 
mind,  and  utterance  to  the  tongue.  We  are  not  to  sup- 
pose that  an  audience,  collected  together  to  hear  youth  and 
ignorance  instructed  in  the  elements  of  Christianity,  are 
nice  and  critical.  If  the  tone  and  manner  of  the  teacher, 
and  the  pains  which  he  takes  to  make  himself  understood, 
render  it  manifest  that  he  is  thoroughly  in  earnest,  any  lit- 
tle particular  deficiencies  will  be  overlooked,  and  the  gene- 


99 


ral  effect  only  will  be  noticed.  A  broken  discourse,  and 
remarks  arising  out  of  circumstances,  and  replies  which 
occur  at  the  moment,  are  not  so  likely  to  weary  hearers, 
as  a  continued  lecture ;  and  for  this  reason  a  diffident  Cler- 
gyman may  enter  upon  his  catechetical  work  with  much 
less  apprehension  of  being  tiresome,  than  when  he  has  to 
deliver  a  sermon.  He  cannot  express  himself  too  plainly  ; 
he  has  no  occasion  whatever  to  study  language  or  style. 
As  long  as  he  is  unaffected,  audible,  and  intelligible,  he  is 
sure  to  interest  his  listeners,*  who  will  not  be  dissatisfied 
even  with  that  which  is  familiar  and  common  place,  be- 
cause they  are  aware,  that  the  instructor  has  to  address 
himself  principally  to  those,  who  require  first  principles, 
and  come  for  milk,  and  not  for  strong  meat. 

My  Lord,  it  is  a  remark,  which  has  lately  been  put  forth 
in  print,  in  more  than  one  form  of  publication,  "  that  reli- 
gious knowledge  is  more  eagerly  sought  for,  and  more 
generally  diffused," — that  "  Religion  has  a  much  stronger 
hold  on  the  affections  of  the  English  nation  now,"  than  in 
preceding  times, — that  we  live  in  an  age,  when  many  jeal- 
ous and  observant  eyes  are  upon  us, — that  much  is  expected 
of  us, — and  that  to  the  ordinary  obligations,  religious  and 
civil,  which  the  ministers  of  our  Church  have  always  been 
expected  to  observe,  are  superadded,  the  obligations  arising 
from  the  increased  and  increasing  force  of  public  opinion. 

Such  being  the  admitted  fact,  it  would  seem  that  any 
parochial  Clergyman,  who  should  undertake  to  restore  the 
system  of  catechising,  according  to  the  plan  which  your 
Lordship  has  suggested,  namely  "by  improving  the  prac- 
tice by  such  modifications  as  would  render  it  popular  as 
well  as  useful,"  would  have  all  the  encouragement  that  a 

[•  «  Expcrto  creJc  Roberto" — trust  and  try. — Am.  Ed.] 


108 


grateful  flock  could  give  him,  in  full  attendance  both  of 
young  and  old,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  one  with 
another,  in  manifestation  of  awakened  hopes  and  fears,  and 
in  general  improvement  throughout  the  parish.  There 
would  be  no  unwillingness  either  in  parent  or  child,  master 
or  apprentice,  to  wait  upon  the  teaching  of  a  Clergyman, 
whose  kind  and  affectionate  earnestness  in  the  cause,  and 
efficient  mode  of  explanation,  should  offer  some  pledge,  that 
they  would  be  the  happier  and  better  for  it.  To  insure 
success  to  his  experiment,  he  has  only  to  treat  his  Cate- 
chumens as  thinking  and  reflecting  beings,  and  not  as  mere 
mechanical  creatures,  who  are  assembled  around  him  to 
repeat  for  the  hundredth  time,  what  they  have  repeated 
ninety-nine  times  before.  Children  as  well  as  grown  per- 
sons, may  be  made  to  understand,  that  they  have  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  Christian  covenant :  and  as  the  preach- 
er's first  care  should  be  to  rouse  each  of  his  hearers  to  a 
sense  of  his  own  individual  concern  in  that  which  is  ad- 
dressed to  him,  so  should  the  Catechist's  be,  to  lead  his 
young  charge  to  employ  their  thoughts  about  themselves, 
to  tempt  them  to  think,  and  to  prevail  on  them  to  exercise 
their  minds  upon  that  which  they  have  been  reading  or 
learning.  Who  shall  limit  the  period  of  life,  when  a  desire 
to  obey  the  Gospel  may  become  the  active  principle  of  the 
soul  ?  The  highest  authority  has  spoken  of  childhood  as 
an  age  of  docility.  God  has  implanted  even  in  infancy 
a  natural  curiosity  about  himself  and  the  things  of  eternity: 
and  we  are  encouraged  by  the  brightest  promises  of  suc- 
cess to  try  the  experiment,  which  the  Church  invites  and 
commands  us  to  make.* 


[  *  This  whole  paragraph  deserves  the  serious  consideration  of  the 
Clergy.—  Jm.  Ed.] 


101 


PRACTICAL  ADOPTION   OF  THE  PROPOSED  SYSTEM. 


The  consecration  of  the  new  Church,  in  Somer's  Town, 
St.  Pancras,  to  which  1  was  appointed  Minister  in  May, 
1826,  afforded  me  an  ample  opportunity  of  making  the  ex- 
periment of  public  catechising  upon  the  scale,  and  with  the 
modifications,  which  your  Lordship's  Charge  had  recom- 
mended. The  scene  of  duty  presented  a  view  of  all  the 
disadvantages,  and  all  the  advantages,  under  which  a  pa- 
rochial Clergyman  may  be  supposed  to  be  placed.  If  there 
was  much  to  encounter,  there  was  a  wide  field  for  useful 
exertion.  Somer's  Town  forms  one  of  the  districts  of  a 
very  extensive  and  populous  parish,  which  is  said  to  be 
seventeen  miles  in  circuit,  and  to  contain  not  less  than 
eighty  thousand  souls.  The  population  of  St.  Pancras  has 
been  increasing  rapidly  during  the  last  forty  years ;  and, 
until  very  lately,  its  provision  for  the  due  performance  of 
Church  Services  was  of  the  most  limited  kind.  The  small 
and  ancient  mother-Church  will  not  accommodate  a  con- 
gregation of  three  hundred.  The  new  parochial  chapel, 
in  Kentish  Town,  is  situated  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
body  of  the  population.  Yet  such  were  the  conflicting 
opinions,  that  tended  to  dissever  the  people  more  and  more 
from  their  constituted  pastor,  that  the  exemplary  and  inde- 
fatigable Dr.  Middleton,  late  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  was  un- 
able to  realize  the  hope  that  lay  nearest  to  his  heart,  and 
to  accomplish  the  construction  of  a  new  edifice,  capable  of 
holding  a  congregation  in  any  degree  proportionable  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  parish.  His  successor,  Dr.  Moore,  has 
been  more  fortunate,  and  his  incumbency  has  been  distin- 
guished not  only  by  the  completion  of  one  of  the  finest  and 
largest  parish  Churches  in  London,  but  by  the  erection  of 
9* 


three  additional  Churches,  or  parochial  chapels,  capable 
of  receiving  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  persons 
each  ;  viz.  one  at  Camden  Town,  another  in  Regent  Square, 
and  a  third  in  Somer's  Town.  The  influence,  the  activity, 
and  the  zeal,  which  have  enabled  the  present  Vicar  to 
achieve  so  much  for  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  parishioners,  are  such  as  entitle 
him  to  the  highest  consideration. 

This  brief  sketch,  of  the  state  of  the  parish  of  St.  Pan- 
eras,  will  sufficiently  explain  that  a  newly-appointed  min- 
ister, to  either  of  these  Churches,  might  have  some  reason 
to  fear,  that  he  was  not  entering  upon  an  easy  cure,  where 
he  would  find  all  things  made  smooth  for  his  career.  Such 
was  found  to  be  the  case  at  the  opening  of  the  new  Church 
in  Somer's  Town ;  and  the  statement,  that  I  am  now  ma- 
king, is  necessary  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  course 
which  I  was  impelled  to  adopt.  A  thin  congregation, 
which  became  much  more  thin  in  the  afternoon,  and  free 
seats  not  half  occupied,  constituted  no  bright  prospect. 
Even  those  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness  did  not  belong  to 
one  fold, — the  scanty  flock  was  made  up  of  many  who 
came  out  of  curiosity,  or  from  a  distance,  or  with  very  un- 
settled notions  of  unity.  It  was  evidently  not  entirely  com- 
posed of  persons  in  regular  communion  with  the  Establish- 
ment. 

The  want  of  school-children  to  assist  in  the  singing,  and 
responses,  was  another  evil,  of  no  small  weight  in  the  scale. 
The  children  of  the  well-conducted  St.  Pancras  National 
School  resorted  in  a  body  to  the  parish  Church  ;  and  there 
were  reasons,  why  even  a  small  detachment  could  not  con- 
veniently be  spared  to  assist  at  the  services  in  Somer's 
Town. 


103 


Upon  casting  about  to  ascertain  the  probable  causes  of 
the  many  empty  seats,  which  continued,  for  the  first  two 
or  three  Sundays,  to  excite  uneasiness,  I  discovered  them 

the  condition  and  various  denominations  of  the  majority 
BP  the  inhabitants  of  the  district.  There  are  several  fami- 
lies of  great  respectability  in  Somer's  Town,  and  its  vicinity, 
and  from  these  the  Clergyman  may  look  to  receive  every 
attention;  but  for  the  most  part  the  houses  are  of  an  infe- 
rior description,  occupied  in  separate  floors  and  apartments, 
by  tenants  who  often  shift  their  abode,  and  become  unac- 
customed to  hold  any  regular  communication  with  paro- 
chial Clergy.  Very  many  of  these  occupants  are  dissenters, 
of  all  sects,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them  are  Roman 
Catholics.  During  the  war,  Somer's  Town  was  the  resort 
of  French  emigrants ;  and  it  is  now  the  receptacle  of 
Spanish  and  Italian  refugees.  There  is  no  part  of  the 
metropolis,  where  the  Roman  Catholics  have  more  pros- 
perous establishments  than  here.  A  chapel  of  old  stand- 
ing, and  now  undergoing  considerable  enlargement, — a 
corps  of  zealous,  able,  and  well-educated  priests,  who 
leave  no  means  untried  to  make  proselytes,*  and  "  two  nu- 

*  At  the  same  time  that  I  put  forth  the  following  statements,  I 
distinctly  disavow  any  intention  of  charging  the  Roman  Catholic 
Clergy  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Somer's  Town,  with  having  had 
any  hand  in  the  transactions  alluded  to.  They  may  pass  without 
their  agency :  the  only  acts  of  theirs,  which  have  come  to  my 
knowledge,  are  in  the  fair  course  of  professional  zeal,  and  I  heartily 
wish  that  all  our  own  priesthood  would  take  equal  pains  to  seek,  as 
well  as  to  save.  The  spirit  of  avowed  hostility  is  so  busy  at  work  in 
Somer's  Town,  on  the  part  of  Roman  Catholics,  that  there  have  been 
circulated  not  less  than  eight  thousand  six  hundred  tracts  within 
this  district  during  the  past  year,  of  which  the  greatest  proportion  is 
calculated  not  so  much  to  confirm  the  truth  of  their  own  tenets,  as 


104 


merous  schools  of  gratuitous  education  for  the  poor,"  to 
quote  their  own  report, — these  form  an  effective  phalanx 
in  the  very  centre  of  the  position  assigned  to  the  district 
minister.    A  large  academy  for  Roman  Catholic  childre^ 

to  turn  ours  into  derision,  and  therefore  evidently  intended  more  for 
the  perusal  of  loose  Protestants,  than  of  professed  Papists.  Of  an 
inflammatory  and  ribald  tract,  in  four  pages,  entitled,  "  Monkish 
Superstition  and  Modern  Improvements,"  more  than  nine  hundred 
have  been  distributed.  This  tract  is  headed  by  a  wood-cut,  repre- 
senting men  harnessed  like  horses,  and  compelled  by  an  overseer, 
armed  with  an  enormous  whip,  to  draw  carts  on  the  road.  The 
text,  illustrative  of  the  print,  asserts,  that  "  women  as  well  as  men 
have  been  set  to  repair  the  roads  in  Sussex  and  Hampshire." 

According  to  the  statement  of  a  printed  schedule  of  distribution, 
550  is  the  number  circulated  of  "  The  modern  method  of  converting 
Idolators,  by  Bible  Saints,"  adorned  by  a  plate,  in  which  Protestant 
disputants  are  drawn  in  the  act  of  assailing  the  Papists,  sword  and 
bayonet  in  hand — 500  of  "  Protestant  Inquisition,"  400  of  "  Samples 
of  the  Blessings  of  the  Reformation,"  150  of  "Tolerance  of  the 
Law  Church."  Another  notable  treatise,  which  has  found  its  way 
by  hundreds  into  the  district,  is  "  a  Review  of  Fox's  Book  of  Mar- 
tyrs :"  this  is  decorated  with  a  print,  under  which  the  publishers 
have  been  at  the  trouble  to  give  the  following  description — •'  Expla- 
nation of  the  engraving.  John  Fox  is  seen  writing  his  hook,  origi- 
nally called  Acts  and  Monuments,  but  now  metamorphosed  into  a 
Book  of  Martyrs.  The  devil  is  looking  over  his  shoulder  prompting 
him,  for  under  no  other  influence  but  that  of  an  evil  spirit  could 
he  write,  since  he  has  been  convicted  of  falsehood  by  father  Parsons, 
who  charges  him  with  telling  directly  and  indirectly  not  less  than 
ten  thousand  lies  in  this  work.  In  the  perspective  is  a  printing 
press  chained.,  to  denote  that  it  was  shut  to  the  Catholics  by  the 
operation  of  the  Penal  Code,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  the 
present  work."  It  is  well  that  the  Clergy  of  the  metropolis  should 
know  how  busily  Roman  Catholic  agents  are  employed  in  their  par- 
ishes.  72,000  of  similar  tracts  were  circulated  in  London  last  year. 


105 


whose  parents  can  afford  to  pay  for  their  education,  ad- 
joins the  new  parochial  chapel. 

Under  such  circumstances  as  these,  it  was  manifest 
that  there  could  be  no  chance  of  making  a  ministry  as 
extensively  useful  as  the  place  required,  but  by  becoming 
personally,  and  accessibly  known,  to  as  many  as  would 
be  willing  to  profit  by  such  intercourse.  But  how  was 
this  to  be  done?  By  whom  could  the  introduction  be  made? 
Unlike  a  country  parish,  the  inhabitants  of  a  London  dis- 
trict are  unknown  to  each  other;  they  hold  but  little  com- 
munication; they  are  not  neighbours,  to  say  to  each  other, 
Have  you  conversed  with  the  Clergyman?  1  will  bring 
him  to  you.  From  one  end  to  another  of  the  district  it 
was  a  land  of  strangers  ;  and  the  common  mode  of  getting 
at  the  well  disposed,  and  at  those  in  error,  would  have  de- 
manded an  interval  of  several  months,  before  any  apparent 
good  could  result.  Preaching  would  not  suffice,  because 
there  were  comparatively  but  few  hearers,  and  those 
few  needed  proofs  of  the  Clergyman's  devotion  to  the 
sacred  cause  beyond  his  energy  in  the  pulpit.  An  imme- 
diate lever  was  wanted  to  move  the  feelings  and  affections 
of  the  people.  It  was  now  that  your  Lordship's  Charge 
recurred  to  my  mind  in  all  its  force. 

"  The  Liturgical  formularies  of  the  Church, — conceived 
on  an  accurate  notion  of  the  relation  between  the  pastor 
and  his  flock,  are  designed  to  connect  them  by  a  regular 
intercourse,  and  to  direct  the  conduct  of  both  parties  in  the 
performance  of  their  respective  duties.  As  the  ground- 
work OF  THIS  PLAN,  IT  IS  HER  PECULIAR  OBJECT  TO  BRING 
THE  PARISHIONER,  FROM  HIS  EARLIEST  DAYS,  INTO  IMMEDI- 
ATE CONTACT  WITH  HIS  SPIRITUAL  TEACHER  AND  GUIDE." 

I  saw  that  I  must  go  back  to  first  principles, — that  I 


106 


must  tread  in  the  humble,  and  almost  forsaken  path  of  the 
Catcchist, — that  I  must  yield  substantial  obedience  to  a 
rule,  which,  if  duly  observed,  would  help  me  to  attain  my 
object. 

But  fresh  difficulties  presented  themselves ;  how  was  I 
to  get  at  the  children,  when  I  was  unknown  to  their  parents, 
and  unable  to  find  my  way  to  houses,  where  the  voice  of  a 
Clergyman  of  the  Church  would  be  heard  in  preference  to 
that  of  any  other?  The  National  School  of  which  I  have 
previously  spoken,  offered  me  none  of  the  facilities  which 
I  required. 

The  more  I  contemplated  my  position,  the  more  plainly 
did  I  perceive  the  necessity  of  making  my  way  to  notice 
and  esteem,  by  being  the  immediate  origin  of  some  method, 
not  yet  in  practice  in  this  particular  quarter;  of  opening  a 
fountain  of  elementary  religious  instruction,  which  had  not 
yet  sprung  up ;  of  training  some  children,  who  should  be 
exclusively  indebted  to  myself  for  some  advantages;  of 
forming  a  plan  for  which  parents  and  families  would  have 
reason  to  be  grateful ;  and  who,  beginning  to  love  me  for 
the  concern  I  had  shown  in  behalf  of  their  little  ones,* 
would  at  length  be  led  to  ask  themselves,  May  not  we  too 
become  better  by  going  to  him  for  instruction  ? 

While  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  exact  course  to  be  pursued, 
it  came  to  my  knowledge  that  the  master  of  an  extensive 
Lancasterian  school  in  Somer's  Town,  was  a  member  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  sincerely  disposed  to  promote 
my  views.  He  had  been  one  of  the  Catechists  under  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts, 
in  North  America,  and  came  home  with  strong  recommen- 

[*The  true  secret,  humanly  speaking,  of  pastoral  influence. — 
Am.  Ed.] 


107 


dations  to  the  National  School  Society.  But  not  finding 
employment  so  soon  as  his  circumstances  required,  he  ac- 
cepted an  offer  which  placed  him  at  the  head  of  this  Lan- 
casterian  institution.  The  number  of  boys  and  girls  in- 
structed there,  amounted  at  the  time  to  more  than  five  hun- 
dred, of  whom  it  was  represented  to  me,  that  many,  being 
children  of  parents  in  communion  with  the  Established 
Church,  might  be  persuaded  to  come  to  Church,  and  to 
form  a  Sunday  school.  The  master  himself  undertook  to 
bring  such  as  should  be  willing  to  attend,  and  to  devote  his 
Sundays  to  whatever  mode  of  instruction  I  might  choose 
to  adopt. 

With  these  elements  my  system  began,  and  on  the  first 
Sunday  after  the  arrangement,  the  master  presented  him- 
self at  the  head  of  about  seventy  children,  who  were 
gathered  together  near  the  altar,  after  the  afternoon  ser- 
mon, and  prepared  by  classification  for  future  operations. 
They  were  not  then  catechised,  for  scarcely  one  could  say 
any  part  of  the  Church  Catechism.  It  was  explained  to 
them,  that  their  attendance  would  be  required  every  Sun- 
day morning,  at  nine  o'clock,  in  the  Church,  that  their 
first  business  would  be  to  learn  the  Catechism,  and  that 
prayer  books  would  be  given,  or  sold  at  very  reduced  prices, 
to  such  as  should  entitle  themselves  to  the  privilege  by 
regular  application  and  proficiency.  On  the  following 
Sunday  the  number  of  voluntary  scholars  was  increased, 
and  several  of  them  had  learned  enough  of  their  lesson  to 
undergo  a  respectable  examination  in  the  Chancel.  The 
wheels  of  the  machine  were  now  in  motion ;  but  that  they 
might  not  drag  heavily,  I  began  at  once  by  infusing  a  little 
variety  into  the  exercise,  and  instead  of  confining  my  en- 
quiries to  the  Catechism,  I  put  questions  and  made  obser- 


108 


vations  relating  to  the  Morning  and  Evening  Services, 
which  interested  the  children,  and  removed  every  appear- 
ance of  unpleasant  task-work. 

For  some  months  the  teacher  of  the  Lancasterian  school 
continued  to  act  as  the  very  efficient  master  of  this  my 
Sunday  School ;  but  at  the  beginning  of  last  year,  he  de- 
clined the  office,  partly  from  a  desire  of  having  the  one 
only  day  in  the  week,  which  he  could  call  his  own,  a  day 
of  perfect  leisure,  and  partly  from  some  apprehension  lest 
he  should  excite  disagreeable  surmises  in  the  minds  of  the 
persons  connected  with  the  management  of  the  weekly 
school,  his  principal  dependence.  It  is  the  regulation  in 
that  school,  that  no  particular  form  of  religion  should  be 
taught,  and  it  is  possible  he  had  reason  to  fear,  that  some 
suspicions  might  be  entertained  of  his  preparing  the  Church 
of  England  boys  for  their  Sunday  examinations,  by  a  pro- 
cess carried  on  in  the  course  of  the  week,  during  school 
hours,  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  Lancasterian  sys- 
tem. Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Committee  of  that  establish- 
ment, so  far  from  manifesting  any  open  jealousy,  or  from 
throwing  obstacles  in  the  way  of  my  Sunday  School,  do, 
to  this  day,  promote  it,  by  continuing  to  pay  a  young 
woman  five  pounds  a  year,  for  her  services  on  the  Sabbath, 
in  superintending  the  conduct  of  such  of  their  female  chil- 
dren as  attend  Church  during  the  hours  of  instruction  and 
of  divine  service.  She  is  in  no  other  way  connected  with 
them. 

In  a  very  short  time,  all  the  advantages  which  your 
Lordship  has  predicted  as  being  likely  to  result  from  "  an 
improved  modification  of  the  ancient  and  laudable  practice 
of  catechising  children  in  Church,"  displayed  themselves 
in  the  District  committed  to  my  charge.    What  these  ad- 


109 


vantages  were,  I  shall  describe  more  fully  in  their  proper 
place.  But  I  may  now  briefly  state,  that  from  the  day  I 
commenced  catechising,  until  the  present  time,  it  has  been 
regularly  pursued  every  Sunday,  without  any  omission, 
either  by  myself,  or  by  the  assistant  minister,  Mr.  Judkin, 
or  by  both  of  us  in  conjunction,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
afternoon  sermon  ;  and  that  a  full  congregation, — an  inter- 
course opened,  and  established  with  a  great  part  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  District, — and  a  Sunday  School  increased 
from  77  to  280,  and  still  increasing,  are  the  results. 
Now  for  the  modifications  suggested  and  adopted. 


IN  WHAT  RESPECTS  THE  OLD  PRACTICE  MAY  BE  MODIFIED 
AND  IMPROVED. 

Your  Lordship  did  not  speak  of  modifications  and  im- 
provements in  the  ancient  practice,  without  giving  us  some 
further  insight  into  your  own  ideas  of  a  mode  of  catechising, 
suitable  to  the  habits  and  feelings  of  modern  times. 

I.  "  A  short  space  before  or  after  the  Church  Service, 
devoted  to  the  examination  of  the  children."*  And, 

II.  An  "examination  judiciously  interspersed  with  short 
explanations,  which  might  be  generally  edifying  to  the  con- 
gregation, leaving  these  matters  to  the  judgment  of  indi- 
vidual Clergymen,  and  the  suggestions  of  local  circum- 
stances."! 

These  were  the  groundworks  proposed  in  your  Lord- 
ship's Charges,  as  substitutions  for  the  half-hour  prescribed 


*  Charge  of  1822,  p.  27. 
10 


f  Charge  of  1822,  p.  27. 


110 


by  the  rubric,  after  the  second  Lesson  at  Evening  Prayer, 
and  for  the  dry  custom  of  confining  the  ordinance  to  a  re- 
petition of  question  and  answer,  as  set  down  in  the  Cate- 
chism.   Upon  these  I  have  acted. 


I.  THE  TIME  OF  CATECHISING. 

In  regard  to  the  first  improvement  ;  I  have  preferred  a 
space  immediately  after  the  Evening  Service,  because  there 
can  then  be  no  interruption  whatever  to  the  congregation, 
and  the  time  employed  may  depend  entirely  upon  circum- 
stances, i.  e.  upon  the  nature  of  the  examination,  and  upon 
the  interest  which  is  taken  in  it.  If  the  children  and  by- 
standers show  no  symptoms  of  weariness,  it  may  be  length- 
ened at  pleasure;  whereas  a  space  before  the  Evening 
Prayers  must  necessarily  terminate,  when  the  hour  for 
prayer  shall  arrive.  Another  consideration  in  favour  of 
this  choice,  is,  the  better  chance  of  having  more  hearers  to 
derive  benefit  from  the  service.  When  the  people  observe 
that  there  is  something  going  on,  and  that  one  and  another 
stays  behind,  the  inclination  to  remain  becomes  pretty  gene- 
ral, and  the  catechist  has  the  satisfaction  of  finding  that  he 
is  surrounded  by  a  numerous  audience.  I  have  found  this 
to  be  the  case  invariably ;  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
congregation,  of  the  superior  orders,  of  servants,  of  young 
persons,  and  the  parents  of  the  children  who  are  to  be  ex- 
amined, remain  in  their  places,  or  approach  the  chancel  to 
listen  to  the  questions  and  answers. 

Again,  there  can  be  no  appearance  of  fastidious  impa- 
tience to  dishearten  the  Clergyman,  when  he  catechises 


Ill 


after  the  prayers  and  sermon,*  because  every  person  who 
stops  to  hear  him  does  so  by  choice,  and  can  go  away  at 
any  moment  he  pleases.  There  is  nothing  indecorous, 
either  in  not  staying  to  witness  the  examination,  or  in 
retiring  from  it  before  it  is  concluded ;  so  that  the  perfect 
and  unrestrained  liberty,  to  go  or  to  stop,  renders  it  an 
attendance  entirely  optional. 


II.     THE  INTERSPERSED  EXPLANATIONS,  AND  THE  MIXED 
CHARACTER  OF  THE  PRACTICE. 

As  soon  as  I  discovered  that  I  had  succeeded  in  divesting 
the  examination  of  all  irksomeness  f  to  the  young  persons 
principally  concerned,  I  began  to  draw  more  largely  upon 
their  time  and  industry,  by  expressing  a  desire  that  in  the 
course  of  every  week,  and  in  addition  to  portions  of  the 
Catechism,  and  expositions  of  it,  they  would  learn  by 
heart,  or  at  least  read  attentively,  the  Collect,  the  Lessons, 
and  the  Gospel  of  the  next  Sunday,  so  as  to  be  prepared 
to  answer  questions  relating  to  the  sacred  narrative,  pre- 

[  *  It  is  on  every  account  far  better  to  substitute  the  catechetical 
exercise  for  the  Sermon.    See  page  25  of  this  volume. — Am.  Ed.] 

■f "  Your  instructions  should  be  given  mildly  and  cheerfully. 
They  should  not  be  given  with  a  magisterial  air,  or  in  the  way  of  a 
solemn  lecture,  where  the  hearer  is  kept,  as  it  were,  at  a  distance, 
and  not  allowed  to  propose,  or  to  answer  questions.  All  angry  or 
threatening  expressions  are  to  be  carefully  avoided.  When  instruc- 
tions are  given  with  a  dogmatical  air,  an  austere  aspect,  and  attended 
with  threats,  children  are  discouraged  from  attempting  to  learn." — 
"  Religious  Instruction  of  Children,"  by  Rev.  Sir  J.  Stonehouse. 


112 


ccpts,  and  doctrines  therein  contained.  I  have  not  made 
a  practice  of  fixing  their  attention  upon  the  Epistles,  con- 
sidering them  to  be  beyond  the  understanding  of  children, 
nor  have  I  selected  the  Lessons  out  of  the  Old  Testament, 
so  often  as  those  which  are  taken  from  the  Gospels.  In 
short  the  latter,  .with  the  Gospel  of  the  day,  have  consti- 
tuted our  principal  exercise ;  and  it  has  rarely  happened, 
that  I  have  asked  the  children  to  commit  any  Scriptural 
passage  to  memory,  without  having  had  the  satisfaction  of 
finding  many  of  them  able  to  repeat  it  at  our  next  meeting. 
The  willingness,  the  delight,  the  emulation,  which  is  ex- 
hibited Sunday  after  Sunday,  is  as  affecting  as  it  is  encour- 
aging ;  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  majority  of  the  chil- 
dren would  be  extremely  grieved,  if  the  system,  after 
being  adopted,  should  be  abandoned. 


METHODS  OF  RENDERING  CATECHISING  ATTRACTIVE. 


But  how  is  the  interest  of  the  children  so  excited,  and 
how  is  their  attention  so  engaged,  in  the  first  instance,  that 
they  become  willing  learners  ?  Public  praise,  and  rewards 
given  in  the  face  of  the  congregation ;  and  the  reverse, — 
rebukes,  mildly  delivered,  and  expected  privileges  withheld, 
have  wonderful  effect.  I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  give  no 
distinction  to  displays  of  talent,  unless  they  be  accompa- 
nied by  good  behaviour.  If  a  child  answer  ever  so  well, 
he  is  not  noticed,  unless  he  has  behaved  well ;  and  none 
are  permitted  to  purchase  Bibles,  Testaments,  or  Prayer- 
books,  unless  they  can  produce  tickets  of  merit,  and  of 
regular  attendance.    Almost  every  Sabbath  the  master  of 


113 


the  Sunday  School  puts  into  my  hand  books,  which  certain 
of  the  children  have  qualified  themselves  to  possess,  partly 
by  tickets  of  merit,  of  an  assigned  pecuniary  value,  and 
partly  by  purchase  ;  and  these  are  delivered  to  them  at  the 
end  of  the  service,  with  a  few  words  of  commendation. 
No  less  than  twenty-nine  Bibles,  five  Testaments,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  Prayer-books,  have  been  earned  by 
the  youthful  aspirants,  in  this  way,  during  the  past  year  ; 
and  no  doubt  they  set  a  high  value  upon  them  after  being 
thus  obtained. 

But  there  are  two  other  more  effective  modes  yet,  which 
I  know  by  experience  tend  greatly  to  secure  the  attention 
of  such  as  are  capable  of  reflection.  The  first  is  to  con- 
vince them  that  we  ourselves  are  in  earnest,  that  we  have 
their  interest  at  heart, — that  it  is  entirely  for  their  sakes 
that  we  take  the  trouble  of  instructing  them.*  The  second 
is  to  make  them  feel  in  earnest  about  themselves, — to  awa- 
ken a  serious  inquisitiveness,  about  their  own  present  and 
eternal  condition,  and  to  show  them,  that  what  we  have  to 
say  on  matters  of  religion  concerns  every  one  of  them 
personally. 

The  congregation  is  edified  by  these  means  quite  as 
much*  as  the  juvenile  circle  which  is  more  immediately 

*  "  Let  your  children  see  that  you  take  pleasure  in  instructing 
them.  A  mild  speech  and  cheerful  countenance  are  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  great  seriousness  of  spirit,  and  with  keeping  up  a  proper 
authority.  Let  them  see  that  all  your  advice  proceeds  from  love. 
Let  nothing  rough  and  morose  appear  in  your  instructions;  but  show 
all  gentleness,  which  will  give  weight  and  influence  to  every  thing 
you  say." — Sir  J.  Slonehouse 's  Instructions. 

[j-"  You  think  that  you  are  teaching  the  children,"  said  a  shrewd 
observer,  "  and  so  you  are ;  but  the  congregation  much  more." — 
Am.  Ed.] 

10* 


114 


addressed.  The  home-questions  which  are  put  to  the  chil- 
dren, the  by-standers,  in  their  turn,  apply  to  their  own 
hearts  and  consciences.  For  example ;  a  child  has  been 
repeating  the  Collect  for  the  fourth  Sunday  after  Lent, 
"  Grant,  we  beseech  thee,  Almighty  God,  that  we,  who  for 
our  evil  deeds  do  worthily  deserve  to  be  punished,"  &c.  &c. 
The  question  naturally  arises,  and  may  be  addressed  to 
one  of  tender  years,  "  Have  you  committed  any  evil  deeds, 
for  which  you  deserve  punishment  ?  "  After  a  short  pause, 
the  Catechist  himself  may  proceed  to  give  the  answer ; 
"  Yes,  unhappily,  young  as  you  are,  you  have  broken 
some  of  God's  commandments.  When  you  have  irrever- 
ently pronounced  his  holy  name, — when  you  have  acted 
disobediently  to  your  parents, — when  you  have  wished  for 
that  which  does  not  belong  to  you,  you  have  done  what  is 
displeasing  to  Almighty  God.  Now  you  shall  see  how  the 
language  of  the  Collect,  which  adds,  <  By  the  comfort  of 
thy  grace  may  be  relieved,'  agrees  with  the  Catechism, 
where  it  directs  you  to  pray  for  divine  help.  '  My  good 
child,  know  this,  that  thou  art  not  able  to  do  these  things 
of  thyself,  nor  to  walk  in  the  commandments  of  God,  and 
to  serve  him,  without  his  special  grace.'  " 

I  have  often  noticed  with  considerable  pleasure,  how  the 
attention  of  individuals,  arrived  at  maturity,  is  riveted, 
when  they  discover,  that  the  lessons  of  their  earliest  asso- 
ciation contain  notes  which  now  strike  to  their  heart;  and 
which  they  feel  would  have  responded  there  at  a  more  ten- 
der age,  had  they  been  skilfully  touched.  Whether  a  con- 
gregation be  listening  to  a  preacher  or  a  catechist,  as  long 
as  the  topics  of  a  discourse  are  directed  to  that,  in  which 
all  have  the  same  personal  concern,  be  they  young  or  old, 
the  speaker  is  sure  to  have  willing  hearers,  whose  con- 
P. 


115 


sciences  will  not  suffer  their  "taste  to  be  fastidious."  Eve- 
ry excited  hope  or  fear  puts  the  mind  on  the  alert — every 
new  perception  and  acquirement  gives  pleasure, — and  the 
by-stander  and  the  catechumen  are  equally  attentive  as  soon 
as  they  discover  that  they  can  apply  religious  maxims  to 
their  own  case ;  that  they  can  draw  from  their  own  hearts 
or  conduct  proofs  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  that  are  de- 
livered to  them. 

Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous,  than  to  limit  catecheti- 
cal lessons  to  the  mere  heartless  business  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  formularies  have  been  committed  to  memory, 
under  the  idea,  that  childhood  being  the  season  for  the  me- 
chanical process  only,  we  must  wait  for  riper  years,  be- 
fore the  word  engrafted  on  the  memory  can  be  expected  to 
engage  the  heart  and  the  understanding,  in  a  salutary  in- 
quiry after  truth.  Why  is  memory  to  be  considered  the 
only  active  power  of  the  youthful  mind'!  Why  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  the  child  can  retain  forms  of  words,  but  not 
impressions  of  hope,  fear,  love,  desire,  and  longings  after 
a  heavenly  state  of  things?  Why  may  he  not  be  supposed 
to  feel  and  to  digest,  to  compare,  and  to  weigh  eternity 
against  the  present  ? 

An  authority,  [Bishop  Wilson]  whose  opinion  has  been 
permitted  to  carry  great  weight  in  all  questions  of  this  kind, 
declared  that  he  would  neither  suspend,  nor  retard  the  im- 
portant work  of  instructing  a  rational  and  immortal  being 
in  the  concerns,  that  interest  his  soul :  that  he  would  make 
the  understanding  travel  on  with  the  mechanical  process  of 
learning  by  heart.  He  insisted  that "  children  being  the  most 
proper  subjects  of  an  education  which  regards  another  life," 
we  should  never  cease  to  put  people  in  mind,  that  the  object  of 
religious  education  is  to  "make  children  Christians  in  deed 


116 


as  well  as  in  name.''''  His  expressions  are  too  strong  to 
allow  us  to  mistake  his  meaning:  he  adds,  "lesl  not  know- 
ing or  not  feeling  the  power  of  religion  in  their  souls," 
they  become  a  scandal  to  their  education.  "  My  mean- 
ing," says  he,  "  is  this ;  children  may  be,  and  often  have 
been,  taught  the  general  truths  and  duties  of  Christianity, 
without  any  great  good  following,  for  want  of  such  pre- 
vious knowledge  and  dispositions  as  we  have  been  speaking 
of,  such  as  are  necessary  to  fit  them  for  receiving  the 

TRUTH  IN  THE  LOVE  OF  IT." 

In  another  place  he  asks,  "  Should  not  this  be  our  first 
and  great  concern  ?  To  plant  the  fear  of  God  in  their 
hearts  betimes,"  namely : 

"  By  giving  them  a  just  and  distinct  knowledge  of  God 
and  his  attributes. 

"  By  making  them  sensible  of  the  relation  they  bear  to 
him,  and  that  they  are  accountable  to  his  justice  for  every 
thing  they  do. 

"  By  explaining  to  them  the  condition  they  are  brought 
into,  by  the  fall  of  our  first  parents. 

"  By  showing  them  to  themselves,  and  convincing 
them  from  their  own  reason,  and  experience,  that 
"  things  are  wretchedly  amiss  in  them"* 

•See  Bishop  Wilson's  "  Sermon,  preached  at  the  Anniversary 
Meeting  of  the  Children  Educated  in  the  Charity  Schools  about  the 
Cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  May  28,  1724." 

The  Bishop's  text  to  this  Sermon  stands  thus: 

Acts  xiii.  48.  "  As  many  as  were  ordained  to  [that  is,  disposed 
or  prepared  for,"]  eternal  life,  believed." 

I  cannot  withhold  my  expression  of  pleasure  at  seeing  the  Calvin- 
istic  rendering  ordained  met  boldly,  and  effectually  corrected,  in 
limine,  at  the  very  outset  of  this  Sermon.    "  For,"  as  the  Right 


117 


Now  it  must  be  quite  manifest,  that  if  there  be  any  rea- 
son and  wisdom  in  these  observations,  a  formal,  forced, 
and  artificial  system  of  catechising,  in  which  there  is  no 
departure  from  a  set  form  of  words,  and  no  personal  appli- 
cation of  the  maxims  to  the  individual  under  examination, 
cannot  exercise  the  mind  of  the  respondent  in  a  sufficiently 
profitable  manner.  Ask  a  child  who  has  been  for  years 
repeating  our  Church  summary  of  doctrine,  to  give  you  in 
his  own  language  an  answer  to  the  simplest  doctrinal  ques- 
tion, and  he  will  look  confused  and  stupid,  unless  the  same 
pains  have  been  taken  to  make  the  sense  reach  his  under- 
standing, as  to  convey  the  sounds  to  his  ears. 

By  following  the  rules  laid  down  by  all,  who  have  se- 
riously considered  the  subject,  that  is,  by  exercising  the  in- 
tellect and  feelings,  as  well  as  the  organs  of  hearing,  the 
understandings  of  children  will  gradually  open,  their  hearts 
will  take  part  in  the  service,  and  their  conduct  and  answers 

Rev.  Author  well  said,  "  if  the  opinion  be  true,  which  has  sometimes 
been  founded  on  this  text,  it  would  render  all  education,  with  regard 
to  another  world,  useless."  In  many  other  instances,  I  could  almost 
venture  to  say,  in  all,  where  the  terms,  ordained,  foreordained,  pre- 
destinated, forekne-w,  &c,  occur  in  the  Authorized  Version,  and  are 
wrested  to  imply  some  doctrine  of  necessity,  of  personal  election,  or 
rejection,  it  will  be  found  by  reference  to  the  Greek,  that  they  admit 
of  a  very  different  construction.  A  philological  investigation,  with 
a  sound  knowledge  of  grammar  and  derivation,  would  do  more  to 
shake  the  authority  of  Calvinistic  readings  of  Scripture,  than  any 
mode  of  reasoning  whatever.  One  hint  to  the  reader  shall  suffice. 
Let  him  trace  the  Greek  preposition  nPO,  through  its  different  accep- 
tations, and  then  let  him  search  for  the  meaning  of  the  Apostle,  by 
interpreting  irpcSsw,  vpmyvai,  irfh^fm,  (see  Romans  viii.)  according 
to  grammatical  and  etymological  rules;  and  I  think  he  will  not  be 
likely  to  rise  from  the  inquiry — a  confirmed  Prcdestinarian. 


IIS 


will  become  more  and  more  natural,  and  more  in  conformity 
with  the  grand  object  to  be  attained.  It  must  be  so;  for 
when  truths,  in  unison  with  experience  and  nature,  and  the 
intelligible  will  of  God,  are  again  and  again  set  before  them, 
not  solely  by  loading  the  memory  with  words  and  senten- 
ces, but  by  fixing  their  thoughts  upon  the  subject-matter  of 
their  lessons,  in  short  remarks  and  reflections  suited  to 
their  comprehension,  and  growing  out  of  the  subjects  of  the 
catechetical  or  Scriptural  passage,  which  they  have  been 
learning  by  heart,  it  is  impossible  that  they  can  listen  with 
indifference.  They  cannot  fail  of  seeing  the  practical  ten- 
dency of  the  knowledge  imparted  to  them, — of  being  moved, 
— of  hoping  or  fearing  for  themselves, — and  of  looking 
out  for  substantial  grounds,  on  which  they  may  rest  their 
confidence  of  acceptance  with  God.* 


EXAMPLE  OF  THE  SYSTEM  PURSUED  IN  REFERENCE  TO  THE 
CATECHISM. 

Keeping  these  considerations  in  view,  and  with  the  de- 
sire also  of  bringing  the  by-standers,  as  well  as  the  chil- 
dren, to  a  recollection  of  the  principal  incidents  connected 

*  Bishop  Wilson  recommends  an  earnest  "  inculcation  of  the  fear 
of  God,"  as  the  shortest  and  most  effectual  method  of  creating  in 
young  people  a  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  a  desire  to  be  thorough- 
ly instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  our  Holy  Faith.  Rejecting  the  use 
of  "arguments  purely  moral,"  such  as  "virtue  is  its  own  reward," 
he  says,  "  we  should  utterly  despair  of  giving  them  a  full  sight  and 
knowledge  of  their  duty,  if  God  had  not  himself  directed  us  to  this 
consideration."    "But  will  not  this  method  of  dealing  with  children 


119 


with  the  promulgation  of  the  Christian  covenant,  I  have 
endeavored  to  vary  the  examination :  and  to  put  interme- 
diate questions  between  the  several  questions  and  answers 
of  the  Catechism,  in  the  following  manner,  suggesting  the 
replies,  when  not  given  by  the  children,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  whenever  it  could  be  done  appropriately. 

Where  were  the  servants  of  God  first  called  Christians? 

"  The  disciples  were  called  Christians  first  in  Antioch." 
— Acts  xi.  25. 

Do  you  remember  any  other  passage  in  the  book  of  Acts, 
which  shows  that  this  name  was  commonly  applied  to  them? 

"  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  Christian." — Acts 
xxvi.  28. 

Is  there  any  promise,  or  prophecy  in  Scripture,  that  the 
people  of  the  Lord  should  have  a  new  name  given  to  them'' 

"  The  Lord  shall  call  his  servants  by  another  name." — 
Isaiah  lxv. 

What  is  required  to  be  a  child  of  God,  now  that  you  are 
old  enough  to  understand  the  promises  made  for  you  in 
your  baptism? 

Faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  "  Ye  are  all  children  of  God 
by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ." — Gal.  iii.  26. 

How  can  you  convince  others,  that  you  have  faith,  that 
you  believe  truly  in  God  and  Jesus  Christ? 

By  keeping  his  commandments. 

make  them  melancholy  ?  By  no  means  :  it  may  make  them  serious, 
and  that  they  ought  to  be ;  and  they  ought  to  be  so  by  times,  lest 
they  never  be  so  as  long  as  they  live.  That  which  makes  people 
melancholy  is,  when  they  have  wrong  apprehensions  of  God,  as  if  he 
had  ordained  them  for  misery,  or  when  they  are  shown  the  danger 
they  are  in,  without  being  shown  the  -way  of  escape." — See  same 
Sermon,  May,  1724. 


120 


How  can  you  keep  the  commandments? 
By  God's  help. 

By  what  means  do  you  hope  to  obtain  God's  help  ? 

By  praying  unto  God  to  give  me  his  grace,  that  I  may 
continue  in  the  same  way  unto  my  life's  end. 

Where  were  the  commandments  first  delivered  ? 

To  Moses,  on  Mount  Sinai. — Exodus  xix. 

Did  any  thing  happen  upon  that  occasion,  to  show  how 
much  God  is  to  be  feared  when  he  delivers  his  command- 
ments ? 

"  There  were  thunders,  and  lightnings,  and  a  thick  cloud 
upon  the  mount, — and  the  voice  of  a  trumpet  exceeding 
loud,  so  that  all  the  people  that  were  in  the  camp  trembled." 
— Exodtts  xix.  16. 

When  does  a  young  person  begin  to  commit  wilful  and 
actual  sin? 

When  he  ceases  to  love  God,  or  to  fear  God,  ot  to  think 
of  God. 

When  Joseph  was  tempted  to  do  wrong,  what  did  he 
say? 

"  How  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness  and  sin  against 
God." — Gen.  xxxix.  9. 

The  Commandments  and  the  Law  came  by  Moses — 
what  came  by  Jesus  Christ? 

"  Grace  and  truth." — John  i.  17. 

But  did  Christ  dispense  with  the  Commandments? 

No :  Christ  said,  "  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law, 
but  to  fulfil  iUn— Matt.  v.  17. 


121 


AN  EXAMPLE  IN  REFERENCE  TO  A  SCRIPTURAL 
EXAMINATION. 

In  conducting  the  Sunday  examination  arising  out  of  the 
Gospel,  or  Second  Lesson  of  the  day,  I  have  endeavoured 
to  make  it  attractive,  as  well  as  instructive,  by  a  method 
which  I  will  exemplify,  by  means  of  the  Gospel  for  the  third 
Sunday  after  Epiphany.  One  of  the  objects  of  interroga- 
tion being  to  ascertain,  whether  children  give  their  atten- 
tion to  what  they  learn  by  heart,  it  is  better  to  draw  the 
Lesson  out  of  their  mouths,  by  leading  questions,  than  by 
requiring  a  recital  by  rote. 

Matthew  vni.  1 — 13. 

1.  "When  Jesus  was  come  down  from  the  mountain," 
what  happened? 

"  Great  multitudes  followed  him." 
From  whence? 

"  From  Galilee,  from  Decapolis,  and  from  Jerusalem, 
and  from  Judea,  and  from  beyond  Jordan." — Matt.  iv.  25. 

2.  Who  "came  and  worshipped  him,"  and  what  was 
said? 

"  A  leper,  saying,  Lord,  if  thou  wilt  thou  canst  make 
me  clean." 

Do  you  remember  any  case  of  a  person  being  smitten 
with  leprosy  for  his  offences? 

Gehazi,  the  servant  of  Elisha — 2  Kings  v.  27. 
What  was  his  sin? 

Falsehood  and  eovetousncss.  [Remarks  upon  these  two 
vices  naturally  follow.] 

3.  Did  Jesus  cure  the  leper? 

11 


128 


Yes.  "  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched  him,  say- 
ing,  I  will,  be  thou  clean ;  and  immediately  his  leprosy- 
was  cleansed." 

When  Naaman's  leprosy  was  cured  by  Elisha  the  pro- 
phet, was  it  done  thus  immediately,  and  by  a  word? 

No.  Naaman  was  directed  to  wash  in  Jordan  seven 
times. — 2  Kings  v. 

[Remarks  upon  the  superiority  of  Christ  over  the  pro- 
phets, &c] 

4.  What  did  Christ  command  the  leper  to  do,  after  he 
had  cured  him  ? 

"  See  thou  tell  no  man ;  but  go  thy  way,  show  thyself 
to  the  priest,  and  orfer  the  gift  that  Moses  commanded  for 
a  testimony  unto  them." 

What  did  the  priests  do,  according  to  the  Mosaic  law, 
when  a  leper  was  to  be  cleansed? 

"  The  priest  commanded  two  birds  to  be  cleansed  alive, 
— one  to  be  killed,  and  the  other  to  be  dipped  in  the  blood 
of  the  bird  that  was  killed,  and  then  let  loose  in  the  open 
field." — Levit.  xiv.  1 — 7. 

Did  this  ceremony  represent  any  thing  in  which  Chris- 
tians should  believe  ? 

It  represented  or  signified  the  shedding  of  Christ's  blood 
for  sinners,  by  which  they  are  cleansed  from  their  sin.* 

5.  When  Jesus  entered  into  Capernaum,  who  came  to 
him? 

6.  "  A  Centurion,  beseeching  him,  and  saying,  Lord, 
my  servant  lieth  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tor- 
mented." 

*  At  a  Catechetical  Examination  in  my  parish  Church  in  Durham, 
a  boy  of  about  14  years  of  ai;e  came  so  well  prepared,  that  he  an- 
swered these  two  last  questions  in  nearly  the  same  words  that  I  have 
here  used. 


123 


What  three  virtues  did  this  Centurion  show,  in  coming 
in  this  manner  to  Jesus  ? 

Faith,  in  that  he  believed  in  Christ's  divine  mission, — 
Hope,  in  that  he  trusted  in  Christ's  mercy, — Charity,  in 
that  he  left  his  home  on  a  work  of  kindness  and  love,  not 
for  his  own,  but  for  his  servant's  sake. 

Do  you  remember  any  other  example  of  a  good  and  pi- 
ous Centurion? 

"Cornelius,  a  devout  man,  and  one  that  feared  God, 
with  all  his  house,  which  gave  much  alms  to  the  people, 
and  prayed  to  God  alway." — Acts  x.  2. 

7.  Was  Jesus  inclined  to  grant  the  Centurion's  request? 
"  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  will  come  and  heal  him." 

8.  Did  he  go? 

"  The  Centurion  answered  and  said,  Lord,  I  am  not  wor- 
thy that  thou  shouldest  come  under  my  roof ;  but  speak 
the  word  only,  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed. 

9.  "  For  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers 
under  me :  and  I  say  to  this  man,  Go,  and  he  goeth  ;  and 
to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh ;  and  to  rny  servant,  do 
this,  and  he  doeth  it." 

What  stranger,  a  great  and  honourable  man,  went  like 
this  Centurion  to  a  prophet,  to  ask  for  a  miracle,  but  with 
less  humility  ? 

Naaman,  who  was  wroth  when  his  request  was  not  im- 
mediately granted,  and  turned  and  went  away  in  a  rage. — 
2  Kings  v.  3,  4. 

10.  When  Jesus  heard  the  Centurion,  what  did  he  say? 
"  He  marvelled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed,  Verily, 

I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in 
Israel." 

If  the  Centurion  was  not  an  Israelite,  what  do  you  sup- 
pose him  to  have  been  ? 


124 


A  Roman, — and  a  "  proselyte," — that  is,  one  believing 
in  the  true  God,  but  not  conforming  to  the  whole  of  the 
Mosaic  law. 

How  did  the  Centurion's  answer  show  his  great  faith? 

He  did  not  require  Christ's  presence  at  his  house.  "  Speak 
the  word  only,  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed."  For  I 
am  a  man  under  authority  ;  at  my  bidding  I  am  obeyed. 
How  much  more  shalt  thou  be  obeyed  by  thy  ministering 
spirits.  If  thou  shalt  but  express  thy  will,  it  will  be  ac- 
complished. In  what  manner  did  Christ  signify,  that  stran- 
gers and  Gentiles  should  be  admitted  into  the  covenant  of 
God? 

11.  "  And  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  shall  come  from 
the  east,  and  the  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham, 
and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Do  you  remember  upon  what  occasion  this  truth  was 
again  announced  to  an  Apostle,  in  reference  to  another 
Gentile? 

When  Peter  was  commanded  in  a  vision  to  baptize  Cor- 
nelius.— Acts  x. 

How  did  Christ  signify  that  outward  profession  and  privi- 
leges will  not  avail,  unless  the  terms  of  the  covenant  be 
obeyed  ? 

12.  "But  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  out, 
into  outer  darkness,  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth." 

You  call  yourself  a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God, 
and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  for  what  must 
you  pray,  that  you  may  not  be  cast  into  this  darkness, 
where  there  will  be  such  anguish  and  tribulation? 

"  A  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness." 

How  will  your  conduct  testify  that  you  have  this  grace? 


135 


By  repentance  for  my  past  sins,  and  by  forsaking  sin  in 
future,  and  by  believing  stedfastly  the  promises  of  God, 
made  to  me,  in  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.* 

How  did  Jesus  proclaim  his  divine  power  and  mercy,  in 
reference  to  the  Centurion  ? 

13.  "  And  Jesus  said,  Go  thy  way,  and  as  thou  hast  be- 
lieved, so  be  it  done  unto  thee.  And  his  servant  was  healed 
in  the  selfsame  hour." 

Do  you  see  any  proofs  of  the  Godhead  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  this  miracle? 

Christ  knew  what  was  passing  in  the  Centurion's  heart, 
"  as  thou  believest he  knew  his  wish  and  his  faith  ;  he 
knew  that  he  had  perfect  and  stedfast  faith.  This  was  a 
proof  of  his  Omniscience. 

He  healed  with  a  word — "  So  be  it  done  unto  thee." 
As  at  the  first  creation,  God  said,  "  Let  there  be  light,  and 
there  was  light ;"  so,  "  He  commanded,  and  it  was  done." 
This  was  a  proof  of  Christ's  Omnipotence. 

"  The  servant  was  healed  in  the  self  same  hour."  This 
was  a  proof  of  Christ's  ubiquity.  His  spirit  was  searching 
the  Centurion's  soul,  and  restoring  the  servant  at  a  dis- 
tance to  health,  at  the  same  lime. 

What  similar  proof  was  given  of  Christ's  Divinity,  as  re- 
lated in  another  place  by  St.  Matthew? 

When  he  cured  the  daughter  of  the  woman  of  Canaan. 
"  Be  it  unto  thee  as  thou  wilt :  and  her  daughter  was  made- 
whole  from  that  very  hour." — Malt.  xv.  28. 

It  is  by  such  a  method  as  this,  by  relieving  the  subject, 
and  carrying  on  the  exercise  with  as  much  spirit  and  cheer- 

♦Upon  all  occasions  it  is  my  endeavour  to  lead  the  mind  of  the 
catechumen  to  compare  the  Catechism  with  Scripture. 
11* 


126 


fulness  as  possible,  by  putting  questions  out  of  the  common 
course  ;  by  making  one  question  lead  to  another ;  by  sound- 
ing the  child's  state  of  mind,  or  depth  of  understanding; 
by  putting  searching  interrogatories  ;  by  drawing  attention 
to  incidents  and  examples  of  Scripture  that  bear  contrasting 
with  some  case  before  you ;  by  permitting  the  catechumen 
to  proceed  with  his  simple,  and  if  it  should  be  so,  with  his 
erroneous  answer,  that  out  of  error  you  may  illustrate  truth  ; 
by  asking  for  the  child's  reasons,  whether  he  makes  a  right 
or  wrong  reply ;  by  persuading  him  to  speak  out,  and  de- 
clare himself;  by  directing  the  examination  judiciously  to 
some  point  of  doctrine,  upon  which  it  is  apprehended  there 
may  be  some  misconstruction  in  the  minds  of  any  of  the 
parishioners,  who  happen  to  be  present ;  and  by  intersper- 
sing such  remarks,  admonitions,  and  illustrations,  as  the 
occasion  may  suggest  or  require ; — it  is  thus,  that  power- 
ful effects  are  produced. 

Catechising  conducted  upon  this  principle  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  parade  or  form,  it  is  something  infinitely  more;  it  is 
performed  with  the  certainty  that  we  are  exercising,  deve- 
loping, and  directing  the  spiritual  energies  of  the  young ; 
while  we  are  rousing  their  elders  to  recollection,  and  pro- 
voking them  to  emulation. 

Another  extremely  beneficial  modification  of  the  ordin- 
ance, is  to  put  questions  upon  the  leading  articles  of  reli- 
gion, and  to  require  answers  in  the  literal  words  of  Scrip- 
ture. Very  little  practice,  and  a  few  scholars  well  taught 
will  soon  put  the  mode  in  train.  Nothing  can  be  more 
salutary,  more  instructive,  and  I  may  add,  more  deeply 
interesting  to  by-standers,  than  to  witness  an  exercise  of 
this  description ;  to  see  the  young  Christian  led  up  to  the 
very  fountain-head,  to  the  well-spring  of  truth ;  and  to  find 


127 


that  every  word  which  proceeds  from,  or  is  put  into  his 
mouth,  in  illustration  of  the  doctrines  of  his  Church,  is  de- 
rived from  Revelation.  It  cannot  fail  of  exciting  a  spirit 
of  enquiry,  and  in  some  instances  of  producing  entire  con- 
viction. "  The  Catechist  claims  a  right  to  be  heard  as 
soon  as  he  begins,  and  carries  with  him  every  unprejudiced 
suffrage  as  he  advances."* 


THE  MODE  OF  INTERROGATORY  ON  THE  PRINCIPAL  ARTICLES 
OF  RELIGION,  AND  GIVING  ANSWERS  FROM  SCRIPTURE. 

GOD. 

How  did  God  make  himself  known? 
"  He  made  known  his  ways  unto  Moses,  his  acts  unto 
the  children  of  Israel." — Psalm  ciii.  7. 
Could  God  be  known  without  Revelation? 
"The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God." — 1  Cor.  i.  21. 
What  is  God? 

"God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  wor- 
ship him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." — John  iv.  24. 
Where  is  God  ? 

"  Do  I  not  fill  heaven  and  earth,  saith  the  Lord." — Jer. 
xxiii.  24. 

Does  God  see  all  that  we  do? 

*  See  the  Bible  Catechism,  by  W.  F.  Lloyd.  A  cheap  and  un- 
pretending little  volume,  but  well  worthy  of  attention,  which  will 
greatly  assist  any  Catechist  who  may  feel  inclined  to  adopt  the  sys- 
tem here  recommended. 


0k 


128 


"Thou  God  seest  me." — Gen.  xvi.  13. 

Is  God  inclined  to  forgive  our  sins? 

"Thou  art  a  God  ready  to  pardon,— slow  to  anger." — 
Nehem.  ix.  17. 

Must  we  always  obey  God  in  all  cases? 

"  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men." — Acts  v.  29. 

By  what  name  did  God  announce  himself? 

"  I  am  that  I  am." — Exod.  iii.  14. 

By  what  attributes  does  St.  Paul  designate  God? 

"  The  King  Eternal,  Immortal,  Invisible,  the  only  wise 
God?— 1  Tim.  i.  17. 

JESUS  CHRIST. 

Why  was  the  Messiah  called  Jesus  ? 
"  Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his 
people  from  their  sins." — Matt.  i.  21. 
Why  was  he  called  Emmanuel? 

"  They  shall  call  his  name  Emmanuel,  which,  being  in- 
terpreted, is,  God  with  us." — Matt.  i.  23. 

What  was  Christ  called  in  prophecy? 

"  His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the 
mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace." 
Isaiah  ix. 

What  did  Christ  call  himself? 

"  Because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God. — John  x.  36. 

What  did  the  Apostles  say  of  Christ? 

"  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us, 
and  we  beheld  his  glory, — the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of 
the  Father,  full  of  light  and  truth." — John  i.  14. 

"  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." — 1  John  ii.  2. 

"  The  Shepherd  and  Bishop  ol  our  souls." — 1  Pet.  ii.  25. 


129 


«  He  is  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant." — Heb.  viii.  6. 
"  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them." — Heb. 

vii.  25. 

HOLY  GHOST. 

Whatpromise  did  Christ  give  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost? 

"  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another 
Comforter ;  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever,  even  the 
Spirit  of  Truth.—  John  xiv.  16,  17. 

"The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name." — John  xxvi. 

Will  the  Holy  Ghost  be  given  to  those  who  pray  for  him  ? 

"If  ye  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto 
your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father 
give  the  Holy  Ghost  to  them  thai  ask  him." — Luke  xi.  13. 

For  what  purpose  is  the  Holy  Ghost  given  ? 

«  Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities. — Rom. 

viii.  26. 

In  what  manner  are  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
described  in  Scripture  ! 

"  The  Holy  Ghost  said,  separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul, 
for  the  work  whercunto  I  have  called  them." — Acts  xiii.  2. 

"  They  were  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  preach  in 
Asia." — Acts  xvi.  6. 

"  The  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in  every  city." — Acts 
xx.  23. 

"  Take  heed  unto  the  flock,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
hath  made  you  overseers." — Acts  xx.  28. 


130 


THE  GODHEAD  OF  CHRIST. 

What  does  St.  John  say  of  Christ's  Divinity  ? 
"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." — John  i.  1. 
What  does  St.  Paul  say? 

"God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh. — 1  Tim.  iii.  16. 

Prove  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  by  showing  that 
eternity  is  ascribed  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

"  The  mystery  made  manifest  according  to  the  com- 
mandment of  the  everlasting  God." — Rom.  xvi.  25,  26. 

"  I  (Jesus)  am  the  first  and  the  last. — Rev.  xxii.  13. 

"  Through  the  everlasting  Spirit." — Heb.  ix.  14. 

Prove  it  by  the  application  of  the  term  Holy  One. 

"  I  am  the  Lord,  your  Holy  One,  the  Creator." — 
Isaiah  xliii.  15. 

"  But  ye  denied  the  Holy  One,  and  desired  a  murderer 
to  be  released  unto  you. — Acts  iii.  14. 

"  Ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One." — 1  John 
ii.  20. 


miscellaneous  doctrines  explained  in  answers 
from  scripture. 

What  is  original  sin  ? 

"  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by 
sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have 
sinned." — Rom.  v.  12. 

What  sacrifice  or  ransom  has  been  offered  for  sin  ? 


181 


"  Christ  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of 
himself.  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many." 
— Heb.  ix.  26. 

What  is  the  atonement  of  Christ? 

"  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquities  of  us  all." — 
Isaiah  Iv.  6. 

"  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin." 
2  Cor.  v.  19. 

What  is  the  efficacy  of  prayer? 

"  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my  name,  he 
shall  give  it  you." — John  xvi.  23. 

Why  are  we  to  keep  the  sabbath  holy? 

"  Hallow  my  sabbaths,  they  shall  be  a  sign  between  me 
and  you,  that  ye  may  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  your  God." 
—Ezekiel  xx.  20. 

Why  is  the  new  birth  necessary  ? 

"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  Ye  must  be 
born  again." — John  iii.  3.  7. 

What  is  the  promise  that  the  prayers  of  the  young  shall 
be  heard  ? 

"  Those  that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me." — Proverbs 
viii.  17. 

What  examples  have  we  of  early  piety? 

"The  child  Samuel  ministered  unto  the  Lord."  And 
"  Samuel  grew,  and  the  Lord  was  with  him."— 1  Samuel 
iii.  1.  8. 

"In  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  while  he  was  yet 
young,  Josiah  began  to  seek  after  the  God  of  David  his 
father."— 2  Chr.  xxxiv.  3. 

«  From  a  child  thou  (Timothy)  hast  known  the  Holy 
Scriptures." — 2  Tim.  iii.  15. 


132 


Are  disposition  and  true  character  manifested  at  an  early 
age? 

"  Even  a  child  is  known  by  his  doings,  whether  his  work 
be  pure,  and  whether  it  be  right." — Prov.  xx.  11. 

There  are  not  many  Catechumens  who  could  readily 
furnish  answers  to  half  these  questions,  but  an  important 
advantage  is  gained  by  proposing  them,  inasmuch  as  the 
instructor  has  the  opportunity  of  directing  attention  to  the 
passages  referred  to,  and  of  proving,  that  the  basis  of  his 
doctrines  is  founded  on  the  rock  of  truth. 


EXPLANATIONS  OF  WORDS  AND  PHRASES. 

A  third  branch  of  the  interrogatory  system,  equally  salu- 
tary, is  to  ask  for  explanations  and  definitions  of  the  phra- 
ses and  terms  which  occur  in  the  Catechism,  or  which  are  in 
common  use  in  the  Church.  Such  as  Baptism,  Sacrament, 
Vow,  Salvation,  Catholic  Church,  Communion  of  Saints, 
Forgiveness,  Resurrection,  Redeemed,  Sanctified,  Elect  peo- 
ple, Idol,  Sabbath  day,  Covet,  Neighbour,  Spiritual,  Ghostly 
enemy,  Kingdom  of  God,  New  birth,  Righteousness,  Death 
unto  Sin,  Grace,  Repentance,  Sacrifice,  New  life,  &c.  &c. 

I  do  not  recommend  that  these  definitions  should  be  re- 
quired only  as  opportunities  arise  in  the  course  of  the  ex- 
amination, but  that  half  an  hour  should  be  occasionally 
devoted  to  the  express  purpose  of  explaining  the  Christian 
vocabulary.  Any  thing  which  varies  the  service,  and  pro- 
duces rapid  transition,  from  one  idea  to  another,  quickens 
attention,  and  is  therefore  usefully  reduced  to  practice, 
where  one  of  the  first  objects  is  to  engage  willing  attention. 


133 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  CHILDREN,  WHO  HAVE  BEEN  CATECHISED, 
EXEMPLIFIED  BY  QUESTIONS  PROPOSED,  AND  ANSWERS 
LITERALLY  RETURNED  BY  THEM. 

Before  I  conclude  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  wish  to  fur- 
nish your  Lordship  with  a  more  distinct  view  of  the  real 
progress  made  by  children  under  the  system  which  has 
been  adopted ;  and  for  this  purpose,  I  will  beg  your  atten- 
tion to  the  ensuing  questions  and  answers,  which  formed 
a  leading  feature  of  the  examination  on  the  Sunday  before 
Easter,  in  the  present  year.  The  children  drawn  up  in 
the  chancel  were  of  all  ages  from  six  to  fifteen.  Some  of 
them  had  been  in  the  Sunday  School  from  its  commence- 
ment, and  had  been  trained  weekly  by  myself,  or  by  the 
assistant  minister,  Mr.  Judkin,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Roberts, 
the  indefatigable  superintendent  master,  and  twelve  or  fif- 
teen of  the  most  respectable  of  the  congregation  of  Somer's 
Town  new  Church,  who  volunteer  their  services  every  Sab- 
bath before  Morning  Prayers.  The  Catechumens  were  not 
in  any  respect  prepared  for  the  particular  queries  which 
were  proposed  to  them,  but  as  it  was  my  wish  on  this  oc- 
casion to  obtain  satisfactory  answers,  I  must  plainly  ac- 
knowledge, that  I  addressed  myself  to  those,  who  were 
most  likely  to  give  them.  The  replies  were  taken  down 
at  the  time  by  a  person  whom  I  had  previously  requested 
to  undertake  this  office,  and  they  are  now  transcribed  from 
his  paper. 

Why  is  Passion  Week  so  called  ? 

Because  Christ  suffered  and  died  in  that  week. 

What  were  Christ's  sufferings,  which  gave  name  to  this 
week  ? 


12 


134 


His  agony  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  death  upon 
the  Cross. 

What  does  God  require  in  those,  who  hope  to  benefit 
by  Christ's  sufferings  ? 

Faith  in  his  word.  ~\ 

Repentance  of  past  sins.  j> 

Obedience  to  his  precepts.  J 

What  are  the  means  of  Grace  ? 

God's  word.  1 

Prayer.  y 

The  Sacrament.  J 

In  whose  name  are  we  to  pray  ? 

In  Christ's.    He  told  his  disciples,  Ask  in  my  name. 

In  what  part  of  our  Liturgy  do  you  find  this  set  forth? 

At  the  end  of  all  the  prayers,  "  Through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord." 

What  do  you  learn  from  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
Christ  T 

Not  answered. 

Why  are  you  afraid  of  God's  displeasure,  more  than 
man's? 

"  Because  he  can  destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell." 
Do  you  remember  any  cases  of  God  depriving  men  of 

life  for  their  sins  ? 

The  destruction  of  all  but  Noah's  family  at  the  flood.  "| 
Korah's  company,  Dathan  and  Abiram.  ^ 
Ananias  and  Sapphira.  J 
Can  you  state  the  names  of  any  transgressors  recorded 

in  Scripture,  whose  souls,  you  have  reason  to  believe,  have 

perished  ? 

Dives  mentioned  in  the  parable.  / 
Judas  Iscariot.  \ 


185 


Can  you  tell  me  of  any  sinners  mentioned  in  Scripture, 
who  repented,  and  of  whom  it  is  believed  that  they  are  re- 
ceiving the  benefit  of  Christ's  sacrifice  ? 

The  penitent  thief.  ? 

St.  Paul,  who  once  persecuted  Christians.  3 

What  must  you  do,  when  you  are  conscious  of  having 
offended  God  ? 

I  must  pray  for  forgiveness,  and  repent,  and  mend  my 
life. 

Can  you  do  this  of  yourself? 

Not  without  the  help  of  God's  Spirit,  the  Holy  Ghost. 
How  has  Christ  described  the  joys  of  heaven  and  the 
punishment  of  hell? 
Not  answered. 

Summing  up  the  Gospel  history,  what  three  great  things 
did  Jesus  do  for  mankind? 
Not  answered. 

How  was  Jesus  received  by  the  Jews  ? 
Answer  if  you  can  in  the  words  of  Scripture. 

"  He  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men." 

How  did  he  endure  his  insults  and  sufferings?  Again 
answer  from  Scripture. 

"  When  he  was  reviled,  he  reviled  not  again  :  when  he 
suffered  he  threatened  not." 

When  Christ  drew  near  the  time  of  his  death,  and  his 
agony  increased,  what  did  he  do? 

Not  answered. 

What  did  his  disciples  do,  when  he  was  taken  before 
Pilate  ? 

Forsook  him  and  fled. 
What  did  Pilate  say  of  him  ? 


136 


I  find  no  fault  in  him. 

How  did  Christ  pray  for  his  enemies? 

Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do. 

What  was  Christ's  last  prayer? 

"  Father  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 

After  such  evidence  that  the  mental  powers  of  children 
are  called  into  action,  and  improved  by  this  system,  and 
that  they  soon  become  emulous  to  prepare  themselves  by 
previous  study  and  application  for  the  weekly  scrutiny,  it 
will  naturally  be  asked,  what  proof  have  you,  that  they 
are  the  better  in  their  general  conduct,  and  that  the  truths 
which  they  are  learning,  make  an  impression  upon  their 
hearts?  I  have  many  proofs  to  give,  but  I  shall  reserve 
them  until  I  discuss  the  utility  of  the  plan,  under  its  own 
head. 


The  modifications  proposed  by  your  Lordship  having 
been  thus  reduced  to  practice,  it  now  becomes  my  very 
agreeable  business  to  show,  that  the  success  secured  by 
them  has  amply  justified  your  Lordship's  prediction,  and 
my  own  experiment. 

"  Catechising  may  be  rendered  popular  as  well  as  use- 
ful, and  furnish  an  exhibition  peculiarly  interesting,  and 
not  uninstructive  to  the  congregation. — It  will  give  to  the 
Clergy,  in  populous  places,  an  opportunity  of  becoming 
known  to  the  rising  generation,  in  the  character  of 
pastors  invested  by  lawful  authority  with  the  charge  of 
their  spiritual  interests,  and  having  a  right  to  their  atten- 
tion and  obedience.    It  will  act  as  a  stimulus  to  domes- 


137 


tic  instruction,  and  prove  one  of  the  strongest  incite- 
ments to  the  parents  to  teach,  and  to  the  children  to  learn."* 
Such  were  your  Lordship's  anticipations,  and  I  will  no- 
tice the  accomplishment  of  them  in  order. 


POPULARITY  OF  CATECIIISING. 

There  are  very  few  human  productions,  upon  which  a 
Christian  teacher  can  ground  his  instructions,  with  so  much 
confidence  as  the  Church  Catechism.  The  Roman  Catho- 
lic Catechisms  run  away  into  many  points  of  faith  and  dis- 
cipline, which  have  no  support  whatever  from  the  plain 
word  of  Scripture.  Several  of  the  best  Catechisms  of  re- 
formed congregations  are  abstrusely  doctrinal, — others  are 
diffuse,  and  lengthened  out  into  treatises;  while  our  own 
is  neither  redundant  nor  dogmatical.  It  never  wanders 
from  Scripture,  or  runs  into  nice  distinctions :  it  contains 
that  alone  in  which  all  Christians  are  agreed.  It  raises  no 
scruples, — it  offends  no  prejudices,  and  its  very  brevity  im- 
plies, that  it  leaves  much  to  the  judgment  of  the  parish 
priest,  and  demands,  that  he  does  more  than  confine  him- 
self to  its  concise  phraseology  ;  that,  taking  its  letter  as  his 
guide,  ho  makes  a  full  and  complete  illustration  of  its  Apos- 
tolical lessons. 

Hence  the  Clergyman,  who  commences  his  catechetical 
lectures  with  this  manual  in  his  hand,  sets  out  in  good  hu- 
mour with  all  Christian  men  :  every  body  is  with  him, — 
no  man  is  against  him.    Those,  who  think  the  Catechism 

*  Charge  of  1818,  p.  27,  28.  also  1822,  p.  25,  3 J  edition. 
12* 


138 


too  short,  look  to  him  for  amplification  :  those,  who  fancy 
it  requires  some  explanation,  are  glad  to  have  him  for  an 
expounder. 

His  next  advantage  consists  in  the  necessity,  under  which 
he  lies,  of  adapting  his  style  of  instruction  to  the  level  of 
every  age  a.tH  capacity.  He  is  not  catechising,  when  he 
ceases  to  be  perfectly  intelligible,  easy,  and  familiar.  The 
advice  which  has  been  so  judiciously  given  to  the  Preacher, 
applies  with  tenfold  force  to  the  Catechist.  "  He  must 
descend  from  the  high  and  lofty  tone  of  language,  to  walk 
in  the  humble  terms  of  Scripture.  He  must  limit  his 
rounded  periods,  to  the  extent  of  vulgar  comprehension. 
He  must  abound  in  interrogations  and  addresses,  which 
the  rules  of  composition  condemn,  in  writing,  though  the 
rules  of  nature  sanction  them  in  speaking."*' 

For  the  lower  orders  especially,  the  system  has  "  charms 
in  its  very  homeliness ;"  and  it  is  the  more  attractive,  be- 
cause it  allows  of  many  topics  being  intermixed,  which  a 
Clergyman  would  be  unwilling  to  discuss  from  the  pulpit, 
but  which  he  may  beneficially,  and  without  any  compro- 
mise of  the  gravity  of  his  office,  introduce  from  the  Cate- 
chetical chair.  "  Whereas  in  sermons  there  is  a  kind  of 
state,  in  catechising  there  is  an  humbleness  very  suitable 
to  Christian  regeneration."")" 

By-standers,  of  all  degrees  and  attainments,  take  an  in- 
terest in  observing  how  the  scroll  of  human  nature  is  un- 
folded by  this  exercise,  and  how  easily  it  is  read  on  such 
occasions;  they  are  pleased  in  seeing  the  effects  which  re- 
ligious doctrine  have  upon  youthful  minds  and  spirits, — in 

•  See  Sumner's  Apostolical  Preaching,  p.  1 1,  ed.  5. 
f  Herbert's  Country  Parson. 


139 


listening  to  replies,  which  display  the  different  dispositions 
and  abilities  of  children  ; — in  witnessing  the  development 
of  character  and  genius, — and  in  comparing  their  own  re- 
ligious advancement  and  acquirements  with  those  of  the 
juvenile  circle  before  them.  Many  of  my  congregation 
have  made  no  secret  of  confessing,  that  they  could  not 
answer  questions  proposed,  as  well  as  the  children  have 
done,  and  that  they  have  been  thankful  for  the  opportunity 
of  picking  up  information,  without  the  shame  or  the  trouble 
of  asking  for  it.  They  have  made  a  still  more  important 
acknowledgment, — viz.  that  they  have  taken  hints  and  re- 
bukes kindly,  which  were  aimed  at  them  through  younger 
marks,  when  a  direct  reproof  would  have  been  intolerable. 
"  Admonitions  directed  to  the  young  find  their  way,  ob- 
liquely indeed,  but  often  effectually,  to  the  bosoms  of  the 
old."* 

A  parish  priest,  who  resides  among  his  people,  and  who 
is  acquainted  with  their  spiritual  state,  may  indeed,  with 
perfect  fearlessness,  take  advantage  of  a  Catechetical  ex- 
amination, to  hazard  remarks  which  would  be  thought  in- 
dicative of  a  jealous  and  controversial  spirit  towards  per- 
sons of  a  different  persuasion,  or  personally  offensive  to- 
wards individuals,  were  they  spoken  solemnly  and  with 
premeditation  from  the  pulpit.  It  is  the  informal,  the  ex- 
temporaneous, the  natural  character  of  the  address ;  it  is 
the  observation  growing  out  of  circumstances,  and  out  of 
the  unexpected  turn,  which  is  sometimes  given  to  the  dis- 
course ;  it  is  the  word  forced  from  the  mouth,  while  the 
heart  is  full ;  it  is  the  genuine  feeling,  and  honest  opinion  of 
the  Pastor,  which  will  have  utterance,  when  all  his  concern 

•  Archdeacon  Baylcy. 


140 


is  awakened  in  behalf  of  his  young  flock  ;  it  is  the  tongue 
that  speaks,  when  the  fire  of  truth  is  kindled ;  it  is  this, 
which  makes  indulgent  and  attentive  hearers,  and  renders 
all  that  is  said  welcome  and  impressive. 

For  these  reasons,  the  Catechist  may  make  his  instruc- 
tions local,  and  adapt  them  to  the  particular  state  of  thought, 
knowledge,  opinion,  errors  or  morals,  which  prevail  in  his 
neighbourhood,  and  yet  give  no  disgust,  because  personality 
cannot  be  imputed  when  children  are  the  parties  immedi- 
ately addressed.* 

But  even  supposing  the  parochial  minister's  voice  may 

*  Is  there  not  reason  to  believe,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Reforma- 
tion would  find  their  way  more  generally  to  the  hearts  and  under- 
standings of  the  people  in  Ireland,  if  the  Clergy  of  the  Established 
Church  would  practise  Catechising  upon  a  more  extended  scale  ? 
In  India  many  prejudices  have  been  removed  by  this  means ;  and 
where  the  natives  will  not  listen  to  a  Sermon,  or  to  a  controversial 
discussion,  professedly  directed  against  their  superstitions,  they  will 
gather  round  children,  who  are  being  examined  in  Scriptural  exer- 
cises, and  take  pleasure  in  hearing  their  explanations. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Report  of  a  Missionary  : — 
"  A  relation  of  the  Rajah  of  Tanjore,  who  sends  his  son  to  our 
school  for  instruction,  sent  me  word,  that  if  I  would  examine  the 
school  at  his  house,  he  should  feel  obliged,  and  would  be  present  at 
the  examination.  I  wished  him  to  allow  me  to  occupy  his  verandah 
instead  of  the  house,  which  he  got  in  readiness  for  the  examination. 
When  I -was  examining  the  children,  a  crowd,  and  among  them 
some  very  respectable  heathens,  came  to  the  place  to  be  present ; 
but,  as  I  had  anticipated,  his  servants  were  posted  to  keep  the  people 
at  such  a  distance,  that  but  very  few  could  hear  me  ;  on  my  observing 
to  him,  that  the  Word  of  God  should  be  made  known  to  every  one 
who  has  a  desire  for  it,  he  ordered  his  servants  to  let  the  people  come 
near  the  verandah.  I  had  now  an  advantage,  by  having  more  hearers 
than  usual." 


141 


sound  harshly  in  some  ears,  or  touch  chords  that  vibrate 
unpleasantly  in  some  hearts,  yet  all  will  admit,  that  he  has 
a  right  to  address  himself,  as  a  reprover,  a  counsellor,  or 
an  expounder  of  doctrine,  to  the  children  of  his  own  flock, 
and  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  just  deference  to  the  paren- 
tal authority  in  which  he  stands  invested,  to  bear  with  him, 
as  with  a  person  privileged  to  use  plainness,  or  sharpness. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  say  how  many  of  the  causes  here  re- 
cited have  had  their  operation  in  the  scene  of  my  own  la- 
bours ;  but  I  may  affirm,  without  any  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  since  Catechising  has  been  regularly  pursued  in  Som- 
er's  Town,  there  has  been  no  other  sentiment  expressed, 
than  that  of  satisfaction  and  approbation.  Many  come 
to  Church  regularly,  who  were  not  regular  before ;  some 
come  who  never  entered  Church  doors  before.  The  in- 
terest taken  in  the  practice  is  so  great,  that  no  small  incon- 
venience arises  from  the  numbers,  who  crowd  up  to  the 
place  of  examination,  exhibiting  an  eagerness  to  catch 
every  word;  and  it  is  difficult  to  find  space  enough,  near 
the  chancel,  to  accommodate  such  as  are  anxious  to  see, 
as  well  as  to  hear,  all  that  is  going  on. 

The  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  parish  are  in 
the  habit  of  bringing  their  children,  and  some  of  them  have 
warmly  expressed  their  thankfulness  for  the  example,  as 
well  as  for  the  instruction,  which  they  find  so  profitable  to 
the  younger  members  of  their  families.  Parents,  and  rela- 
tives of  the  children  examined,  take,  as  it  may  be  expected, 
more  than  ordinary  pleasure  in  the  service,  and  tears  of  joy 
are  often  seen  gushing  from  their  eyes,  when  the  objects 
of  their  more  immediate  concern  are  rewarded,  or  com- 
mended for  the  manner  in  which  they  may  have  acquitted 
themselves. 


142 


But  perhaps  nothing  has  contributed  to  prove  the  efficacy 
and  popularity  of  the  system  more  strongly,  than  the  in- 
ducement it  is  found  to  hold  out  to  young  persons,  beyond 
the  usual  age  of  scholars,  to  present  themselves  Sunday 
after  Sunday  for  the  acquirement  of  further  knowledge,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  instructing  others.  I  shall  have  to  speak 
elsewhere  of  such  as  come  with  the  praiseworthy  motive 
of  offering  their  services  as  teachers  ;  it  is  enough  to  state 
here  in  a  few  words,  that  there  are  many  apprentices  and 
servants  of  both  sexes,  who  take  their  places  regularly 
amidst  the  children,  and  show  an  anxiety  to  be  questioned 
with  the  rest.  In  fact,  the  catechumens  of  all  ages  take 
so  lively  a  concern  in  the  endeavours  that  are  made  to  im- 
prove them,  and  to  inculcate  salutary  religious  sentiments, 
that  they  are  not  only  voluntary,  but  cheerful  attendants. 
The  time  occupied  is  usually  less  than  an  hour,  but  when 
it  is  exceeded,  there  are  few  symptoms  of  impatience,  and 
many  indications  that  these  exercises,  and  the  preparation 
for  them,  are  considered  as  among  the  happier  hours  of 
their  life. 

How  can  I  doubt  that  even  the  youngest  of  my  charge 
find  entertainment  as  well  as  improvement,  when  I  perceive 
that  as  the  interrogations  advance,  their  eyes  lighten  up, 
their  imaginations  outrun  their  power  of  utterance,  their 
anxiety  to  reply  gets  the  better  of  bashfulness,  and  their 
mental  activity  increases,  as  long  as  I  continue  to  propose 
questions,  which  exercise  thought  or  ingenuity  1  In  fact, 
they  are  pleased  to  find  themselves  taking  part  in  a  con- 
versational exercise,  and  delighted  at  every  fresh  discovery 
of  the  secret,  that  their  own  minds  are  capable  of  effort, 
and  that  they  themselves  can  explain  as  well  as  repeat. 


143 


ITS  USEFULNESS. 

When  a  religious  service  finds  so  many  persons  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,  who  are  willingly  disposed  to  wait 
upon  it, — it  cannot  but  lead  to  some  results  which  are  of 
the  highest  importance  to  the  Christian  cause. 

A  strong  regard,  and  a  strong  reciprocity  of  confidence 
grow  out  of  the  Clergyman's  attempt  to  train  up  his  young 
flock  in  the  way  they  should  go,  and  out  of  the  disposition 
evinced  by  the  congregation,  to  stimulate  the  assiduity  of 
the  children  by  their  presence. — He  has  our  best  interests 
at  heart,  he  labours  to  build  us  up  in  our  holy  faith,  to 
lead  our  thoughts,  and  to  fix  our  attention  on  that  which  is 
necessary  to  salvation.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  our  for- 
mal and  verbal  acquiescence,  he  requires  a  sincere  and  a 
conscientious  assent.  He  takes  a  parental  interest  in  our 
children,  and  as  though  he  were  Parent,  Sponsor,  and 
Priest,  he  provides  in  all  things  for  their  1  souls'  health.' 
He  acts  towards  them  as  though  he  had  the  Scriptural 
portrait  of  the  good  shepherd  ever  before  his  eyes.  He 
gathers  the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  carries  them  in  his 
bosom.  He  brings  back  that  which  was  driven  away. 
He  seeks  that  which  was  lost. — Such  are  the  reflections  of 
the  parishioners  in  regard  to  their  Pastor.  The  Parish 
Priest  entertains  corresponding  sentiments.  He  loves  his 
flock  the  more  affectionately,  because  they  follow  him,  and 
know  his  voice,  because  they  will  not  follow  a  stranger. 
They  are  the  more  and  more  endeared  to  him,  in  that  they 
place  themselves  under  his  guidance,  and  consent  to  be 
directed  by  his  hand.  It  is  the  willingness  of  parents, 
children,  masters  of  families  and  of  their  dependents,  to 
be  taught  of  him,  and  to  give  themselves  up  to  his  super- 


144 

visal,  which  animates  his  affection,  and  cements  the  union.* 
But  these  are  general  reflections.  I  am  bound  to  show, 
not  what  the  state  of  things  is  likely  to  be,  but  what  it  is, 
as  actually  resulting  from  the  system  under  my  own  man- 
agement. 

Here  then,  in  a  district,  situated  between  a  dense  popu- 
lation on  one  side,  where  there  arc  numberless  evil  seduc- 
tions: and  the  outskirts  of  London  on  the  other,  where 
young  people  are  tempted  to  spend  the  Sabbath  in  pro- 
faneness,  or  in  idle  roaming  about  the  fields :  here,  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred  children  are  not  only  per- 
suaded to  come  to  Church,  but  to  devote  the  hours  imme- 
diately before  and  after  public  worship  to  religious  acqire- 
ments.  And  not  only  so,  but  many  of  their  relatives  and 
friends,  moved  by  their  example,  or  anxious  or  curious  to 
know  the  extent  of  their  proficiency,  are  induced  to  follow 
them  to  the  same  place  of  instruction,  and  to  pass,  in  seri- 
ousness, time  which  might  otherwise  be  consumed  in  levity 
or  sin.  So  much  of  the  Sabbath  being  spent  becomingly, 
it  is  reasonable  to  hope,  that  the  remainder  of  it  will  not 
be  mis-spent,  and  that  a  great  number  of  responsible  be- 
ings are  put  in  the  way,  by  this  simple  ordinance,  of  culti- 
vating a  spirit  of  true  devotion,  and  of  reflecting  at  home 
on  what  they  have  been  learning  in  the  house  of  God. 

*  Should  it  become  more  general  in  the  Parochial  Clergy  to  de- 
vote a  portion  of  their  time  to  the  public  instruction  of  children  in 
Church,  might  we  not  hope,  that  sponsors  also  would  begin  to  en- 
tertain more  serious  notions  of  the  responsibility  of  their  office? 
"  Ye  shall  call  upon  them  to  hear  sermons,"  is  one  of  the  baptismal 
exhortations.  The  short  and  practical  discourses,  which  find  their 
way  into  catechetical  examinations,  are  "  sermons"  which  it  would 
do  well  for  sponsors  to  invite  their  adopted  children  to  attend. 


145 


Have  we  not  cause  to  expect  a  blessing  upon  such  la- 
bours, when  a  blessing  has  been  promised  ? 

After  all,  says  Seeker,  the  most  valuable  instruction* 
for  servants,  for  children,  and  for  all  persons,  is  the  public 
one  of  the  Church,  which  our  Saviour  himself  hath  prom- 
ised to  bless  with  his  presence. 

"  Gather  the  people  together,  men,  and  women,  and 
children,  that  they  may  hear,  and  that  they  may  learn  and 
fear  the  Lord  your  God,  and  observe  to  do  all  the  words 
of  his  law,  and  that  their  children  which  have  not  known 
any  thing,  may  hear  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  your  God. "f 

Several  adults,  who  had  not  been  previously  admitted 
into  the  Church,  have,  at  their  own  request,  received  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism,  in  consequence  of  the  impression 
made  upon  their  minds,  by  remarks  which  they  have  heard, 

•  Wherever  the  system  is  adopted,  that  is  where  instruction  is 
conveyed,  not  merely  by  teaching  the  catechisms,  but  by  catechising, 
the  blessing  of  God  appears  to  crown  the  undertaking.  The  an- 
nexed account  is  extracted  from  the  last  Report  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  p.  39. 

"  From  Barbados  the  Society  learns  that  there  is  a  progressive 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  slave  to  receive,  and  of  the  higher  classes 
to  impart  the  blessings  of  religion.  The  Catechetical  system  ex- 
plained in  the  last  Annual  Report,  has  advanced  materially  during 
the  year  which  has  just  closed  ;  and  Sunday  Schools  have  been 
opened  in  many  places.  It  appears  that  by  the  united  exertions  of 
the  clergy  and  their  catechists,  with  the  personal  co-operation  of  the 
proprietors,  their  families,  and  overseers,  by  far  the  greater  number 
of  estates  in  this  island  are  receiving  the  benefits  of  religious  in- 
struction; and  one  good  effect  already  perceived  has  been  an  in- 
creased attendance  of  the  Negroes  at  Church,  where  they  behave 
with  exemplary  decorum." 

f  Deut.  xxxi.  12,  13. 
13 


146 


after  questions  on  the  nature  of  baptismal  vows  and  prom- 
ises,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  baptismal  covenant. 

Many  young  persons  of  both  sexes,  and  of  different  con- 
ditions in  life,  have  kindly  proffered  their  aid,  and  have  re- 
quested permission  to  act  as  Teachers,  and  to  prepare  the 
children  for  their  catechetical  examination.  They  not  only 
attend  at  an  early  hour  on  Sunday  mornings,  but  they 
have  signified  their  readiness  to  give  lessons,  during  the 
summer  months,  from  six  till  half-past  seven  on  Sunday 
evenings.  Not  to  dwell  upon  the  advantage,  which  the 
children  themselves  derive  from  the  superintendence  of 
steady  instructors,  who  are  fully  aware  of  the  obligations 
of  the  Christian  Covenant,  whose  age  and  respectability 
give  weight  to  their  admonitions,  and  who  exercise  an  au- 
thority over  the  minds  of  boys  and  girls,  which  monitors 
chosen  from  among  themselves  could  not  be  expected  to 
attain ;  it  is  a  most  important  point  gained,  to  have  such 
coadjutors  enlisted  in  our  cause,  and  to  unite  them  closer 
and  closer  to  our  Church,  by  bringing  them  into  frequent 
converse  with  us. 

The  relation  does  not  end  here ;  the  intercourse  which 
begins  so  kindly  is  improved,  and  in  all  his  pastoral  func- 
tions the  parish  priest  may  look  to  have  his  hands  strength- 
ened, his  plans  seconded,  and  his  influence  extended,  by 
the  zeal  and  affectionate  partizanship  of  these  his  lay  friends 
and  assistants,  who  are  first  united  with  him  as  fellow- 
labourers  in  the  work  of  religious  education. 

With  regard  to  the  children  themselves,  out  of  several 
cases,  to  which  my  inquiries  and  observations  have  been 
directed,  the  following  will  not  be  thought  unworthy  of  se- 
lection : — A  boy  of  fourteen  years  of  age,  after  having  at- 
tended the  catechising  for  some  months,  was  bound  appren- 


117 


tice,  or  placed  in  the  service  of  a  tradesman  in  the  Borough. 
His  master  employs  him  on  Sunday  mornings,  but  permits 
him  to  call  his  time  his  own  after  noonday.  The  lad 
regularly  finds  his  way  to  the  Church  in  Somer's  Town, 
makes  his  appearance  at  afternoon  Prayers  and  Sermon, 
and  takes  his  place  in  the  chancel  for  examination,  among 
his  former  companions.  None  answer  better  than  himself; 
he  evidently  devotes  many  of  his  leisure  hours  to  religious 
study,  and  has  made  himself  master  of  a  Bible  and  Prayer 
Book,  partly  by  producing  tickets  of  merit,  and  partly  by 
purchase  money.  He  is  altogether,  from  disposition,  good 
conduct,  and  application,  a  youth  of  considerable  promise. 

The  annexed  letter  from  another  lad  of  fourteen  years 
and  a  half,  who  has  also  left  the  Parish,  but  is  occasionally 
seen  among  our  children,  will  tell  his  history  and  state  of 
mind  better  than  any  words  I  can  adopt.  It  is  addressed 
to  the  master  of  the  Sunday  School. 
"Sir, 

"I  hardly  know  how  to  express  my  gratitude  enough 
for  the  kindness  and  learning  which  I  received  while  at 
your  Sunday  School,  but  I  am  obliged  to  discontinue  at- 
tending, as  I  have  got  a  situation  at  Mr.  ,  West- 
minster, who  is  a  very  religious  good  man,  and  with  him 
I  am  very  comfortable  and  happy.  I  should  feel  obliged 
to  you,  if  you  would  give  my  best  thanks  to  Mr.  Judkin,* 
for  the  learning  I  have  received  from  him,  which  I  hope 
will  never  die  in  my  memory.  I  have  paid  one  shilling  to 
a  large  Bible,  and  will  send  all  as  soon  as  possible;  if  you 
will  have  the  goodness  to  send  me  one,  when  I  have  paid 

*  Assistant  minister  of  Somer's  Town. 


148 


enough  to  purchase  one.  I  think  you  have  also  some 
tickets  of  mine,  if  you  please  to  send  me  a  little  book  for 
them,  you  would  oblige,  dear  Sir, 

Your  ever  grateful  servant, 

R.  B." 

These  two  boys  have  displayed  the  same  uniform  atten- 
tion and  good  conduct,  during  the  whole  of  their  connexion 
with  us.  The  subjoined  cases  are  of  a  ditferent  descrip- 
tion. 

Samuel  ,  long  after  his  admission  into  the  Sun- 
day School,  was  so  untractable  and  perverse,  that  his 
teachers  began  to  despair  of  his  reformation.  It  was  even 
proposed  to  expel  him.  But  indications  of  improvement 
were  gradually  exhibited,  and  he  is  now  pronounced  to  be 
among  the  most  attentive  and  best  behaved  of  his  class. 

Another  lad,  whose  name  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention, 
was  for  many  weeks  in  the  habit  of  mixing  unwillingly 
among  the  children  at  their  Sunday  examinations.  His 
master  insisted  upon  it,  under  the  hope  of  seeing  an  obsti- 
nate and  disobedient  temper  improved.  The  boy  has  de- 
rived so  much  benefit  by  his  attendance,  that  his  master  is 
trying  the  same  experiment  with  a  second  youth  in  his 
service. 

A  girl,  whose  ready  answers  and  good  conduct  lately 
attracted  my  notice,  was  represented  to  me,  as  having  been 
so  giddy  and  ill-behaved,  when  she  first  came  among  us, 
that  it  would  have  been  pronounced  "enthusiasm"  to  have 
looked  for  any  effectual  change.  She  is  now  in  the  highest 
class,  and  after  receiving  several  rewards,  has  saved 
money  enough  to  purchase  one  of  our  best  bibles. 

Added  to  these  and  many  other  examples  of  the  same 


149 


nature,  there  are  several  very  young  children,  whose  emu- 
lation has  been  so  strongly  excited,  that  I  have  been  obliged 
to  check  it,  lest  their  application  during  the  week  should 
prove  injurious  to  their  health.  One  of  these,  not  seven 
years  of  age,  came  prepared,  upon  a  late  occasion,  to  re- 
peat the  whole  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  St.  John, — fifty-nine 
verses, — the  self-imposed  exercise  of  the  past  week.  Every 
Sunday,  a  hundred  voices  exclaim,  "  I  have  learnt  the  Col- 
lect— and  I  the  Gospel, — and  I  a  page  of  Lewis's  Exposi- 
tion of  the  Catechism." 

The  system  thus  affords  the  Clergyman  an  opportunity 
of  becoming  known  to  the  rising  generation,  and  extending 
his  influence  among  them.  This  is  one  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial advantages  obtained  by  catechising.  It  follows  as 
a  certain  consequence.  Kindness  always  finds  its  way  to 
the  hearts  of  young  persons,  and  more  particularly  when 
it  proceeds  from  those,  whom  they  are  in  the  habit  of  re- 
garding as  persons  vested  with  authority.  From  the  very 
constitution  of  our  Church  Establishment,  and  from  other 
causes,  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss,  the  youth  of  the 
lower  orders  seem  to  require  more  than  ordinary  invitation 
to  approach  us.  Catechising,  well  conducted,  breaks  down 
this  partition  wall;  the  child's  bosom  opens  to  the  minister, 
who  frequently  accosts  him  in  a  voice  of  affectionate  con- 
cern, and  manifests  an  interest  in  his  behalf.  Seeing  that 
there  is  some  feeling  for  him,  he  loves  and  reverences  the 
man,  for  whom  he  before  entertained  nothing  more  than 
cold  respect.  The  parents  also  are  bound  by  cords  of  love 
to  the  priest,  who  takes  more  than  formal  and  official  notice 
of  their  children, — who  holds  his  station  among  them,  not 
merely  as  a  national  functionary,  rendering  back  a  mea- 
sured return  of  duty  for  the  revenue  he  draws, — but  whose 
13* 


150 


intercourse  is  an  intercourse  of  zeal,  and  friendship,  and 
affection,  exercised  equally  towards  old  and  young.  In 
more  instances  that  one,  I  have  found  a  whole  family 
moved  by  means  of  a  child,  who  has  been  desired  to  repeat 
at  home  what  he  has  learnt  at  Church,  and  to  read  a  par- 
ticular passage  to  his  father  or  mother,  or  to  warn  a  brother 
or  a  sister,  who  has  not  yet  been  restrained  by  the  fear  of 
God. 

The  catechumens  themselves,  conscious  that  the  Clergy- 
man has  his  eye  upon  them,  measure  their  conduct  accord- 
ingly, and  are  oftentimes  restrained  in  an  hour  of  tempta- 
tion, by  the  apprehension,  that  a  knowledge  of  their  trans- 
gression would  expose  them  to  his  reproof,  and  to  the 
charge  of  inconsistency.  It  is  frequently  enough  to  say  to 
them,  What,  will  you,  who  have  answered  so  well  at  the 
examination  in  Church,  and  received  the  commendations 
of  your  minister,  will  you  now  act  in  direct  violation  of 
the  precepts,  which  you  then  professed  to  observe?  Will 
you,  who  have  had  a  kind  counsellor  and  friend  in  your 
parish  priest,  turn  your  back  upon  him,  and  go  to  unauthor- 
ized persons  for  spiritual  direction,  when  you  have  had  so 
many  proofs  that  he  is  much  more  deeply  concerned  in 
your  spiritual  integrity  and  safety,  than  any  stranger 
can  be  ? 

It  is  not,  however,  my  wish  to  go  into  any  great  length 
upon  these  topics,  important  as  they  are.  I  have  merely 
proposed  to  give  a  sketch,  in  outline,  of  the  superstructure 
which  a  good  master  builder  may  erect  upon  catechising : 
it  will  therefore  be  enough  to  add,  on  this  head,  that  one 
great  desideratum  in  our  ecclesiastical  system,  may  be  sup- 
plied by  it. 

For  the  most  part  we  lose  sight  of  our  flock  at  a  very 


151 


dangerous  period  of  life,— after  they  leave  the  Parochial 
Schools.  Except  during  the  short  seasons,  few  and  far 
between,  which  are  devoted  to  the  preparation  for  Confir- 
mation, young  persons,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  of 
age,  arc  seldom  brought  into  contact  with  their  Clergyman.* 
The  Catechist  makes  opportunities  of  intercourse,  of  famil- 

[*  "  Nor  can  I  leave  this  branch  of  the  subject,  without,  at  least,  a 
slight  allusion  to  that  which,  in  my  judgment,  is  by  far  the  most  in- 
teresting duty  of  the  pastoral  office,  the  nurture  and  the  instruction 
of  the  young.  To  no  other  exercise  of  his  fidelity  and  patience,  can 
the  Christian  minister  so  certainly  look  for  future  increase,  or  for 
present  satisfaction.  To  the  regular  catechetical  instruction,  to  the 
Sunday  School,  to  the  Bible  Class,  to  whatever  can  bring  the  youth 
of  his  congregation  about  him,  engage  them  in  religious  inquiries, 
and  impress  them  with  religious  truth,  let  him  assiduously  devote 
himself.  Let  him  begin  early,  and  late  leave  off; — engaging  the  in- 
fant soldiers  of  the  Cross,  from  the  time  that  they  first  leave  their 
mother's  arms ;  and  never  letting  them  go,  till,  as  grown  up  men 
and  women,  they  are  themselves  fit  to  become  teachers  and  examples 
to  the  flock.  In  both  these  respects, — in  beginning  too  late,  and 
leaving  off  too  early, — the  Church  is  greatly  the  sufferer.  The 
baptismal  font  does  not  now  duly  lead,  as  it  was  wont,  and  ever 
should,  first  to  the  chancel  rail,  and  then  to  the  table  of  the  Lord. 
Many  that  are  baptised,  never  ask  for  confirmation.  Many  that  are 
confirmed,  come  not  to  that  holy  supper.  The  Church  loses  her 
hold  upon  them ;  and  they  are  but  too  often  lost  to  her, — to  them- 
selves,— to  the  world, — to  God.  These  things,  surely,  ought  not  so 
to  be.  That,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  they  may  not  be  so,  let  us  follow 
his  example,  who,  in  that  beautiful  prophetic  picture,  '  feeds  his 
flock  like  a  shepherd,  gathering  the  lambs  with  his  arms,  and  carry- 
ing them  in  his  bosom  ;' — let  us  ever  bear  in  mind,  his  affectionate 
appeal  to  the  Apostle  Peter,  and  make  it  the  test,  by  which,  to  our 
own  hearts,  we  try  our  love  for  him, — '  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  me,  more  than  these  1  Feed  my  lambs.'" — Bishop  Doans, 
Primary  Charge.] 


152 


iarizing  himself  with  names  and  countenances  and  dispo- 
sitions, which  other  ministers,  especially  in  very  large 
parishes,  cannot  hope  to  enjoy.  He  gives  himself  a  right, 
which  is  willingly  conceded  to  him,  of  enquiring  after  those, 
whom  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  instructing  every  week, 
in  their  progress  from  tender  to  riper  years.  Should  he 
hear,  or  see,  or  learn  from  others,  that  they  are  going 
astray,  either  in  opinion  or  practice,  he  has  an  appeal  to 
them,  which  they  cannot  easily  resist.  Whether  he  shall 
miss  them  at  Church,  or  at  the  Sacrament,  or  whatever  be 
his  reason  to  suspect  that  they  are  departing  from  the  way 
of  truth,  he  has  opened  a  door  to  their  hearts  and  under- 
standings, which  no  man  can  shut :  which  they  themselves 
cannot  close  against  him,  and  through  which  he  may  re- 
gain access  whenever  he  pleases. 


IT  ACTS  AS  A  STIMULUS  TO  DOMESTIC  INSTRUCTION. 

Of  all  excitements  that  have  ever  been  devised,  to  en- 
courage the  parents  to  teach,  and  the  children  to  learn, 
there  is  none  like  this.  The  publicity  of  the  proceedings, — 
the  solemnity  of  the  place, — the  presence  and  earnestness 
of  the  Pastor  of  the  flock, — the  honest  pride  which  the 
parents  take  in  having  an  opportunity  of  proving  to  their 
neighbours  and  acquaintances,  that  they  have  not  neglected 
their  children, — and  the  gratification  of  the  children  in  re- 
ceiving praise  or  rewards  *  in  the  face  of  all  whom  they 

*  The  Bishop  of  Salisbury  was  present  at  one  of  these  examina- 
tions in  Somer's  Town  Chapel,  and  being  highly  pleased  with  the 


153 


are  accustomed  to  hold  in  respect ;  each  of  these  is  enough 
in  itself  to  operate  powerfully  upon  the  mind  during  the 
week,  and  to  spur  on  old  and  young  10  make  preparation 
against  the  ensuing  enquiry.  What  then  may  be  expected 
to  be  the  result  when  these  motives  aci  in  combination, 
when  they  are  constantly  at  work,  when  there  is  no  inter- 
mission, but  when  every  Sabbath  makes  new  demands 
upon  the  same  attention  ?  * 

I  will  confine  myself  to  the  mention  of  two  facts  in  proof 
of  the  strong  feeling,  which  prevails  in  families,  to  qualify 
the  children  for  the  catechetical  examination  in  Church. 

The  mother  of  eleven  children  in  Somer's  Town,  sends 
seven  of  them  to  Church  to  be  catechised,  and  three  of 
these  arc  so  well  trained  by  her,  that  they  are  among  the 
best  of  those  who  answer.  They  all  come  prepared  with 
some  portion  of  the  Scripture,  or  expositions  of  the  cate- 
chism, committed  to  memory  during  the  week. 

At  a  very  early  stage  of  our  proceedings,  a  boy  of  about 
eleven  years  of  age,  was  noticed  for  the  extraordinary 
readiness  of  his  answers,  w  hen  he  was  asked  for  Scriptural 

answers  of  three  or  four  children,  he  kindly  gave  them  a  piece  of 
money  each.  These  young  folks  were  so  excessively  gratified  by 
the  notice  of  his  Lordship,  that  they  preserve  his  presents,  and  wear 
them  as  medals  round  their  necks. 

•  A  Letter  from  my  parish  in  the  country,  where  the  system  has 
been  tried  upon  the  same  plan,  gives  the  following  pleasing  account 
of  its  success. 

"  The  new  plan  answers  remarkably  well,  and  I  have  had  clear 
proof  that  it  will  operate  as  a  stimulus,  not  only  to  the  children 
themselves,  but  to  those  connected  with  them.  I  drew  out  several 
little  confessions,  that  brother  A.,  and  sister  B.,  and  aunt  D.,  had 
been  hearing  and  questioning  the  young  folks  at  home." — See  Let- 
ter from  the  same  writer,  page  182. 


154 


references.  It  was  explained  to  me,  that  his  father,  who 
had  previously  been  inattentive  to  his  religious  duties,  be- 
gan to  "  search  Scripture"  with  his  child  every  evening, 
with  the  view  of  preparing  him  for  the  Sunday  questions. 
That,  which  commenced  with  the  mere  desire  of  making 
his  son  a  prpficient  in  an  exercise  of  memory,  has  ended 
in  conviction,  and  the  man  is  now  a  reformed  character. 

Such,  my  Lord,  are  the  remarks  which  I  have  thrown 
together  as  concisely  as  possible,  more  in  the  form  of  frag- 
ments and  hints,  than  of  a  regular  disquisition,  under  the 
hope  of  inducing  other  Clergymen  to  give  their  serious  con- 
sideration to  the  merits  of  an  ordinance,  which  most  men 
know  how  to  appreciate  in  theory,  while  few  are  disposed 
to  try  its  effect  in  its  several  practical  bearings.*  But  since 
a  plan  adopted  by  myself  may  seem  to  require  something 
more  than  my  own  testimony  in  evidence  of  its  practica- 
bility and  success,  I  beg  attention  to  the  annexed  extract 
of  a  letter,  addressed  to  me  by  a  Lay  friend,  who  witnessed 
the  manner  in  which  the  business  of  catechising  was  car- 
ried on  by  my  Curate,  during  my  absence  from  Somer's 
Town,  and  the  impression  made  upon  the  children  and  the 
congregation. 

"  I  was  last  Sunday  afternoon  at  Somer's  Town  chapel. 
Perceiving  many  of  the  congregation  collecting  round  the 
Communion-table  after  the  service,  to  hear  the  children  of 
the  district  Schools  catechised,  I  joined  the  throng.  It  was 
indeed  a  most  gratifying  scene.  The  children,  to  the  num- 
ber of  one  hundred  and  fifty,  or  sixty,  evidently  assembled 
willingly  ;  they  came  not  as  by  constraint  to  an  ungrate- 
ful task.    They  seemed  to  feel  that  they  were  in  the  pre- 

[*  Far  too  true  \—Am.  Ed.] 


155 


sonce  of  their  fathers  and  their  mothers,  their  relations  and 
their  friends  ;  they  were  cheered,  too,  by  the  interest  which 
was  manifested  by  many  of  their  richer  neighbours.  The 
spectators,  I  was  glad  to  observe,  were  numerous,  and  of 
all  ranks  and  ages.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  kindness 
of  Mr.  Judkin's  manner.  His  questions  related  chiefly  to 
the  Lessons,  the  Collect,  and  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  for 
the  day,  parts  of  which  many  of  the  children  had  learned 
during  the  week.  Their  answers  were  frequently  extremely 
pertinent  and  correct ;  and  if  they  hesitated,  they  were  en- 
couraged to  say  what  they  did  think  and  know,  though 
they  might  err  widely  from  the  mark ;  and  by  thus  learn- 
ing the  extent  and  nature  of  their  ignorance,  the  Catechist 
was  the  better  able  to  instruct  them,  xattj^iv  top  zoyov. 
The  young  Catechumens  seemed  to  feel  that  something 
more  was  required  of  them  than  answers,  with  which  their 
lips  had  been  long  familiar.  When  a  question  was  pro- 
posed, it  immediately  arrested  their  attention  ;  and  if  they 
perceived,  or  thought  they  perceived  the  answer,  they 
strove  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  examiner.  The  sacredness 
of  the  place  prevented  any  unseemly  bursts,  but  their  emu- 
lation was  not  checked  by  unnecessary  form. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  by-standers  did  not 
profit  by  such  an  examination ;  the  mere  questions  must 
have  incited  many  to  reflect ;  and  the  words  of  instruction 
and  advice,  which  were  offered  from  time  to  time  by  the 
Catechist,  could  not  be  lost.  And  surely  he  does  not 
rightly  conceive  the  duty  of  a  Catechist,  w  ho  thinks  it  satis- 
fied by  asking  certain  formal  questions,  and  hearing  the 
prescribed  answers.  The  occasions  which  an  examination 
must  offer,  are  the  most  valuable  for  reproof  and  explana- 
tion of  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel. 


156 


"  What  a  contrast  between  the  animated  scene  I  have 
faintly  sketched,  and  the  system  set  forth  by  the  Canon ! 
The  service  of  the  Church  is  interrupted  ;  a  dozen  children 
are  drawn  up  before  the  reading  desk  in  prim  array,  and 
repeat  the  words  of  their  Catechism.  This  mode  is  incon- 
venient and  uninteresting,  and  is  therefore  seldom  adopted. 
But  what  is  the  consequence?  Catechetical  instruction  is 
almost  disused  in  our  Churches,  though  its  observance  is 
recommended  by  the  most  potent  considerations." 


TOE  SAME  SYSTEM  ADOPTED  AT  DURHAM. 

The  preceding  pages  give  an  account  of  an  experiment 
made  in  the  metropolis:  your  Lordship  will  have  no  ob- 
jection to  hear  how  the  system  may  work  in  a  country 
town,  and  in  a  parish  where  it  might  be  thought,  that  the 
introduction  of  a  new  force  was  not  so  imperiously  neces- 
sary. 

In  November  last,  I  became  the  Incumbent  of  St.  Mar- 
garet's, a  parish  in  Durham.  The  population  is  about 
three  thousand,  and  I  found  the  way  prepared  for  me  by 
the  labours  of  two  eminent  predecessors,*  each  of  w  hom 
had  distinguished  the  period  of  his  cure  by  some  beneficial 
improvement  in  the  parish.  The  Clergyman,  whom  I  im- 
mediately succeeded,  had  put  into  efficient  training  a  Sun- 
day-school, and  an  Infant-school,  and  had  secured  such 
an  ample  provision  of  Bibles,  Testaments,  and  Prayer- 
books,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  family  which  cannot  pro- 

*  The  Dean  of  Chester,  and  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Darnell. 


157 


duce  a  proof  of  his  zeal,  in  their  possession  of  a  copy  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  path  thus  smoothed,  had  been  further 
improved  by  the  constant  residence  of  a  curate,*  who  has 
been,  during  sixteen  years,  The  Parish  Priest,  in  every 
sense  of  that  term,  full  of  meaning  as  it  is.  All  possible 
means  were  open  to  me  of  putting  myself  in  immediate 
communication  with  my  new  flock,  through  the  introduc- 
tion of  one  who  knew  them  all,  and  was  known  of  them. 
Therefore,  if  Somer's  Town  presented  a  fair  spot  for  the 
experiment  of  catechising,  on  your  Lordship's  modified 
plan,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulties,  which  a  parochial 
Clergyman  would  have  to  encounter  there,  St.  Margaret's 
might  also  be  regarded  as  favourable  ground,  in  considera- 
tion of  its  facilities. 

Perceiving  afternoon  prayers  to  be  indifferently  attended, 
and  the  Sunday-school  to  furnish  a  muster  very  unequal 
to  the  numbers  on  the  list,  I  determined  to  have  recourse 
to  catechising  forthwith,  and  I  looked  with  sanguine  expec- 
tation to  the  result.  The  effect  was  even  greater  than  that 
which  I  anticipated.  The  afternoon  congregation  increased 
every  Sunday  ;  and  in  ten  weeks  the  number  of  children 
in  attendance  at  school,  which  did  not  exceed  60  on  the 
first  day  I  officiated,  had  swelled  to  146.  It  has  now 
reached  160. 

I  derive  no  small  satisfaction  from  having  an  opportunity 
of  inserting  the  following  Report,  by  Mr.  George,  of  the 
improvement  already  resulting  from  steady  perseverance 
in  the  practice.  It  is  important  to  have  the  opinion  of  a 
Clergyman  who  has  reflected  so  much  and  so  seriously 
upon  the  nature  of  clerical  duties,  and  to  adduce  such  an 

*  The  Rev.  P.  George. 
14 


158 


accession  as  this  to  the  valuable  authorities  which  I  have 
already  cited  in  behalf  of  Public  Catechising. 

"  In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  send  you  a  hasty 
sketch  of  the  plan  of  Catechising  in  the  Church,  first 
adopted  when  you  became  the  Incumbent,  and  still  con- 
tinued ;  together  with  a  statement  of  the  effects  it  has  pro- 
duced. 

"  It  seems  proper,  in  the  first  place,  to  advert  briefly  to 
the  nature  and  extent  of  our  population ;  and  also  to  cer- 
tain measures  which  had  previously  been  put  into  operation. 
The  population  of  the  Parish  amounts  to  more  than  3000; 
and  is  of  a  very  indigent  and  fluctuating  character.  Being 
a  detached  suburb  of  a  considerable  town,  and  abounding 
in  mean  houses,  which  are,  moreover,  in  a  multitude  of 
instances,  divided  into  tenements  occupied  by  distinct  fami- 
lies;— it  naturally  becomes,  for  these  reasons,  the  abode 
of  the  poorest  orders ;  and,  on  some  other  accounts,  also 
attracts  very  many  of  the  vagrants,  and  loose  and  suspi- 
cious characters,  who  pass  along  the  great  North-road. 
These  circumstances,  in  conjunction  with  the  almost  total 
want  of  accommodation  in  the  Church,  for  the  mass  of  the 
poorer  orders,  (until  within  the  last  three  or  four  years) 
tended,  in  no  ordinary  degree,  to  cherish  vice  and  igno- 
rance, and  a  total  apathy  to  religion,  and,  indeed,  to  im- 
provement of  any  kind.  One  essential  step  towards  the 
amelioration  of  a  Parish  so  circumstanced,  seemed  to  be 
the  providing  accommodation  for  the  poorer  orders  in  the 
Church.  A  free  gallery  was,  accordingly,  erected  at  the 
suggestion,  and  through  the  exertions  of  the  last  Incum- 
bent ;  which,  although  by  no  means  adequate  to  supply  the 
wants  of  the  Parish,  has  proved  a  material  aid.  The  edu- 
cation of  the  children  was  obviously  the  next  step,  which 


1S9 


afforded  any  prospect  of  success.  By  giving  them  reli- 
gious instruction,  and  training  them  to  habits  of  due  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  day,  and  attendance  at  Church,  it 
was  hoped  that  many  of  them  would  not  only  be  rescued 
from  the  ignorance  and  irreligion  which  surrounded  them, 
but  that  they  might  be  made  the  means  of  bringing  a  bene- 
ficial influence  to  bear  on  their  parents  and  relatives, 
whose  habits  had  become  such  as  to  make  them  scarcely 
accessible  by  other  means.  With  this  view,  a  Sunday- 
school  was  established,  and  subsequently,  an  Infant-school 
by  way  of  nursery  and  preparation,  for  it.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  several  dames'  and  other  schools  in  the  Parish, 
were  regularly  visited  by  the  Clergyman,  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  due  attention  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church 
Catechism,  and  of  watching  over  the  progress  of  the  chil- 
dren in  it.  By  these  means  religious  instruction  was,  in 
some  measure,  advanced  among  the  mass  of  the  children, 
and  the  way  cleared  for  the  adoption  of  your  plan  of  Cate- 
chising in  Church ;  which,  before,  would  have  been,  if  not 
impracticable,  at  least  much  less  interesting  and  efficient, 
on  account  of  the  very  small  number  of  children,  who  were 
capable  of  any  thing  beyond  the  merest  elementary  in- 
struction. 

"  In  forming  a  plan  for  Catechising  in  the  Church,  it 
was  of  great  importance  to  adapt  it,  not  only  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  children  themselves,  but  so  as  also  to  excite  the 
notice  of  their  parents  and  relatives,  and  to  render  it  a  vehicle 
of  attractive  instruction  ;  and  consequently  of  some  general 
interest  to  a  congregation.  With  these  views  a  portion  of 
the  Church  Catechism  is  given  out  to  be  got  up  during  the 
week,  together  with  some  texts  of  Scripture,  that  are  con- 
firmatory or  explanatory  of  the  doctrines  or  precepts, 


160 


which  it  contains.  The  Sunday  Collect  is  also  committed 
to  memory,  and  the  children  are  encouraged  to  endeavour 
to  prepare  themselves  to  answer  such  questions  as  the  mat- 
ter it  contains  may  suggest.  In  addition  to  these,  the  Gos- 
pel for  the  day  is  learnt  or  read  over  by  the  children  ;  a 
certain  number  of  verses  by  each,  (several  of  them  vol- 
untarily get  up  the  whole)  and  they  are  required  to  state 
the  incidents  recorded  in  it ;  the  doctrines  or  precepts  it 
teaches ;  the  promises  or  threatenings  it  holds  forth,  6cc; 
and  to  quote  the  references  it  may  contain,  on  any  of  the 
above  particulars,  to  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Tickets  of  merit  are  distributed  publicly  in  Church,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  Catechising,  to  those  who  have  answered 
best ;  and  a  certain  number  of  these  entitle  their  possessors 
to  a  Bible,  New  Testament,  or  Prayer-book,  or  some  other 
suitable  gift,  which  is  also  bestowed  publicly.  The  Sun- 
day-school is  now  so  regulated  as  to  be  in  every  respect 
preparatory  for  the  above  plan  of  Catechising  in  Church, 
which  is  held  out,  and  is  considered  by  the  children  in  a 
remarkable  degree,  as  a  great  distinction  and  privilege  to 
be  attained  to. 

"If  it  be  now  asked,  what  have  been  the  effects  of  this 
plan?  It  is  answered,  First,  It  has  more  than  doubled  the 
numbers  at  the  Sunday-school.  Secondly,  The  order  and 
discipline  among  the  children  have  been  greatly  improved; 
and  are  now  maintained  with  a  degree  of  ease  before  un- 
known ;  in  consequence  of  the  value  attached  to  the  Cate- 
chising in  Church,  both  by  children  and  parents,  and  the 
desire  to  merit  the  distinction  of  being  admitted  to  it. 
Thirdly,  It  has  attracted  a  respectable  congregation  in  the 
afternoon,  when  very  few  attended  before.  Fourthly,  It 
has  excited  many  among  the  poorer  classes  (of  which  seve- 


101 


ral  striking  proofs  have  occurred)  to  endeavour  to  assist 
their  children  in  preparing  themselves,  as  well  for  the  Cate- 
chising in  the  Church,  as  for  the  examinations  in  the  school  ; 
a  circumstance  which  cannot  fail  to  prove  highly  benefi- 
cial, and  of  which  there  have  been  already  proofs,  espe- 
cially in  the  attendance  of  many  poor  parents,  and  others, 
on  divine  worship,  who  formerly,  very  much,  if  not  alto- 
gether, neglected  it.  Fifthly,  It  is  evidently  working  a 
great  improvement  in  the  general  behaviour  of  the  children 
during  the  week,  probably  from  the  feeling,  that  the  eyes 
of  the  public  are  more  particularly  fixed  on  them,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  appearing  at  the  Catechising  in  Chnrch, 
and  also,  it  may  be  hoped,  in  consequence  of  the  instruc- 
tion they  have  there  received.  These  are  plain  facts, 
which  admit  not  of  being  doubted;  and  which  fully  bear 
out  the  expectations  entertained  by  you,  with  regard  to  the 
utility  of  public  Catechising  in  Church,  if  judiciously  man- 
aged, and  vigorously  pursued.  Its  influence  may  be  made 
to  operate  where  a  Clergyman's  preaching  never,  perhaps, 
reaches ;  and  where  his  advice  and  admonitions  can  be 
heard  only  on  an  occasional  visit,  and  will  then  be  heard 
too  often  only  to  be  speedily  forgotten.  It  operates  upon 
parents  through  a  channel  which  remains  open,  when  every 
other  is,  perhaps,  shut — through  their  feelings  for  their 
children.  It  forms  the  most  effectual  check  to  dissent ; 
and  if  it  were  generally  adopted,  and  well  conducted, 
would,  if  I  may  venture  to  state  my  humble  opinion,  most 
powerfully  extend  the  influence  and  usefulness  of  the 
Church  among  the  mass  of  the  people  than  any  other  ex- 
pedient that  could  be  devised  " 
14* 


10:2 


CONCLUSION. 

My  Lord,  I  have  now  come  to  a  termination  of  my  pro- 
posed task.  The  system  which  I  have  adopted  in  your 
diocese,  will,  I  trust,  be  continued  by  my  successor,  and  I 
take  leave  of  the  district,  with  an  earnest  hope,  that  the 
beneficial  results  of  a  plan  originating  in  your  Lordship's 
Charge,  will  be  of  a  lasting  nature.  The  experiment  has 
been  tried,  and  fully  stated ;  and  my  object  will  be  as  fullv 
attained,  if  any  persons  who  entertain  low  views  concern- 
ing the  duty  of  Catechising,  or  if  any,  whose  practice  does 
not  correspond  with  their  proper  estimate  of  its  importance, 
shall  be  induced  to  give  their  serious  attention  to  the  subject. 

A  service,  which  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  example  of 
the  primitive  Church,  and  of  early  reformed  Churches: 
which  has  been  enjoined  by  the  Canons  and  Rubrics,  and 
recommended  by  the  most  distinguished  divines  of  our  Es- 
tablishment, which  has  been  adopted  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, and  exercised  by  Protestant  congregations  of  every 
name  and  sect  throughout  the  Christian  world,  cannot  but 
be  practicable,  instructive,  and  lovely  in  itself  "For, 
however  individuals  and  societies  may  have  differed  in  all 
other  points,  on  the  utility  and  necessity  of  Catechising  all 
have  agreed.— Europeans,  Asiatics,  and  Africans,  Greeks 
and  Latins,  Papists  and  Protestants,  Lutherans  and  Cal- 
vinistics."*  Wherever,  therefore,  it  has  been  discontinued, 
the  blame  must  rest  upon  individuals,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
embrace  every  means,  which  the  Church  sets  forth,  of  ex- 
plaining  its  doctrines,  and  extending  its  influence. 

At  the  present  crisis,  when  the  Church  of  England  has 


*  Mant. 


163 


descended  from  her  vantage  ground,  and  declared  her  wil- 
lingness to  depend  upon  her  moral  strength — the  purity  of  ^ 
her  Creed — the  strictness  of  her  discipline — the  attachment 
of  her  supporters — and  the  fidelity  of  her  ministers,  for 
maintenance  and  ascendancy,  there  is  a  louder  demand 
than  ever  for  pastoral  exertion  in  every  branch  of  her  or- 
dinances. It  will  no  longer  suffice  to  talk  of  attachment 
to  the  Establishment,  to  write  in  its  defence,  or  to  contro- 
vert the  arguments  of  its  adversaries.  Ours  must  be  the 
persuasive  reasoning  of  effective  ministry.  We  must  find 
our  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  by  exercising  every 
duty  which  the  Church  imposes,  as  a  tost  of  usefulness 
and  sincerity.  The  Dissenters  boldly  measure  strength 
with  us ;  the  Roman  Catholics  openly  menace  and  oppose 
us — they  argue  with  us,  they  challenge  us  to  a  contest  of 
words,  and  to  a  comparison  of  professional  activity.  But 
as  long  as  we  are  vigilant  and  true  to  ourselves  we  have 
nothing  to  fear.  Our  former  triumphs  have  been  achieved 
by  a  lively  zeal  in  the  diffusion  of  light  and  knowledge,  by 
guiding  the  public  mind  in  the  search  of  truth,  and  by  ta- 
king the  lead  in  all  pursuits  that  conduct  to  it.  But  having, 
by  the  blessing  of  God  obtained  our  pre-eminence,  in  part 
at  least,  by  promoting  national  education,  and  religious  in- 
quiry, we  must  now  preserve  our  station  by  personally 
superintending  their  progress,  not  only  in  Schools,  and 
among  individuals,  but  in  the  face  of  the  congregation. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
My  Lokd, 

Your  Lordship's  most  obliged 
And  faithful  servant, 

William  Stephen  Gilly. 

May  1,  1828. 


If  you  would  have  united  and  pros- 
perous parishes,  affectionate  to  your- 
selves, and  devoted  to  your  Redeemer 
— if  you  would  enjoy  the  blessed  sat- 
isfaction to  see  your  spiritual  chil- 
dren walking  in  the  truth,  and  to 
meet  them  joyful  and  happy  at  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day,  never  lose 
sight  of  your  duly  to  the  lambs  of  the 
flock  of  Christ — the  duty  of  thorough 
personal    catechetical  instruction. 

Bishop  Ivks. 


APPENDIX. 


Nothing  can  be  more  strongly  conclusive  of  the  advan- 
tages which  arise  out  of  a  system,  where  instruction  is  im- 
parted to  children,  through  examinations  in  Scripture,  and 
in  elementary  knowledge,  than  the  Reports  which  arrive 
in  this  country  from  India.    When  Bishop  Heber  declared 

"  THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CAUSE  IN  INDIA  LIES 

here,"  lie  was  speaking  of  the  Missions  in  Tanjore,  where 
well-conducted  schools,  for  the  diffusion,  in  the  first  place 
of  European,  and  ultimately  of  Christian  Knowledge,  are 
prominent  among  the  means  employed  of  enlightening  the 
natives. 

"  I  can  assure  the  Society,"  says  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Robinson,  secretary  to  the  Calcutta  District  Committee, 
addressing  himself  to  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  "  that  their  native  schools  in  Bengal  hold 
out  most  encouraging  prospects  of  success  in  converting 
the  heathen  to  our  hoi;/ faith.  I  have  visited  these  semi- 
naries, and  am  satisfied  that  no  human  means  can  be  so 
effectual  in  sapping  the  foundation  of  idolatry  as  they  are. 

The  work  may  not  immediately  be  followed  by  brilliant 
results,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  ultimate  effect. 
Prejudice  and  alarm  are  rapidly  subsiding,  and  difficulties 
which  a  few  years  ago  presented  a  formidable  barrier,  are 
now  unknown.  We  are  at  liberty  to  introduce  the  Scrip- 
tures and  other  religious  books  without  a  murmur.  The 
word  of  God  is  taught  daily ;  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  com- 


166 


mitted  to  memory,  whilst  treatises,  calculated  to  convey 
useful  knowledge,  are  received  and  learnt  with  avidity." 

The  following  extracts  from  Reports  of  proceedings  in 
India,*  relative  to  hopes  entertained  of  reaching  the  hearts 
of  the  population  at  large,  through  the  young,  will  not  be 
thought  foreign  to  the  question  discussed  in  this  volume. 
We  may  argue  from  the  unconverted  heathen  abroad,  to 
the  nominal  professors  of  Christianity  at  home,  and  expect 
the  same  results  to  follow. 

"  Each  succeeding  despatch,  and  every  fresh  arrival 
from  the  East  furnish  accumulated  evidence  to  prove  that 
education,  and  education  alone,  can  overcome  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Heathen,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the  recep- 
tion of  Christianity.  And  when  this  fact  is  understood  in 
Europe  as  completely  as  it  appears  to  be  understood  in  In- 
dia, the  Society  may  expect  those  important  additions  to 
its  Native  School  Fund,  which  will  enable  it  to  answer  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  formed." — Report  of  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  1826,  p.  27. 

*  Similar  expectations  are  indulged  in  another  part  of  the  world 
upon  the  same  principle. 

"Besides  the  model  schools  at  Bridge  Town,  the  Bishop  of  Bar- 
bados has  adopted  a  plan  for  the  general  instruction  of  the  black 
population  throughout  his  diocese.  He  proposes  to  appoint  one  or 
more  catechists  in  every  parish,  whose  especial  duty  it  will  he  to  in- 
struct the  slaves,  under  the  direction  of  the  Clergy,  and  with  the 
permission  of  their  respective  masters.  His  Lordship  has  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  procure  the  services  of  several  highly  respectable  per- 
sons in  the  situation  of  catechists ;  and  the  system  is  undoubtedly 
calculated  to  communicate  religious  knowledge,  both  to  the  adult 
and  to  the  child,  with  greater  rapidity  and  greater  regularity  than 
any  that  had  been  previously  proposed." — Report  of  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  1S26,  p.  31. 


167 


"  Stimulated  by  these  encouraging  assurances,  the  So- 
ciety will  continue  to  give  its  most  earnest  attention  to  the 
increase  and  maintenance  of  native  schools.  The  liberal 
provision  now  made  by  the  Indian  Government  for  the  lit- 
erary instruction  of  its  subjects,  seems  to  point  out  the 
communication  of  religious  knowledge  as  the  peculiar  field 
for  the  operation  of  the  Society." — Society's  Report  of 
1827,  p.  29. 

"  At  Bombay,  to  which  a  Missionary  has  now  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
there  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  the  number  of 
children  educated  in  the  Native  Schools ;  a  large  supply 
of  books  has  been  requested;  a  large  remittance  in  pay- 
ment for  former  supplies  has  been  received:  and  it  is 
hoped  that  Christianity  will  soon  be  introduced  into  the 
schools  in  this  Presidency  in  the  same  unobtrusive  and 
effectual  manner  which  has  been  already  adopted  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Calcutta. 

"In  Ceylon,  where  the  number  of  native  Christians  has 
long  been  considerable,  and  where  nothing  seems  to  be 
wanted  but  an  improved  and  extensive  system  of  schooling, 
the  plan  suggested  by  Bishop  Heber  for  the  education  of 
native  teachers,  has  been  unavoidably  interrupted  by  his 
death.  But  so  valuable  a  suggestion  will  not  be  lost  sight 
of." — Society's  Report  of  1827,  p.  32. 

"  In  these  schools  the  Scriptures  are  read  as  a  book  of 
elementary  instruction,  without  opposition  from  the  natives, 
or  any  appearance  of  dislike.  Here,  it  would  seem,  a 
great  door,  and  effectual,  is  opened  to  the  preaching  and 
reception  of  the  Gospel.  For  it  may  reasonably  be  hoped 
that  many,  whose  minds  have  been  thus  seasoned  in  early 


168 


life  with  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness,  will  see,  when 
they  grow  up  to  manhood,  the  folly  and  wickedness  of 
their  popular  creed  and  superstitions  ;  will  listen  with  glad- 
ness to  those  messengers  of  Christ  who  propound  to  them 
the  truths,  and  ply  them  with  the  lessons  of  godliness,  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  their  childhood  ;  will 
renounce  the  errors  and  idols  of  their  forefathers,  and  be- 
come sincere  and  willing  converts  to  our  pure  and  holy 
religion.  Under  these  convictions  of  their  tendency  to  ad- 
vance the  good  work  of  conversion,  a  separate  fund  has 
been  formed  for  their  support.  And  the  Society  entertains 
a  sanguine  hope  that,  under  your  protection,  they  may, 
through  God's  blessing  upon  the  instruments  which  he 
vouchsafes  to  employ,  serve  to  promote  the  knowledge  of 
the  Gospel,  and  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven — From  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester's  Valedictory 
Address  to  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  Society's  Report  of 
1827,  p.  91. 

"  Six  schools  have  been  established  in  different  parts  of 
the  city,  (Benares),  containing  about  240  boys:  in  these 
schools,  after  the  first  books,  the  Gospels  are  read,  and 
the  treatise  on  Geography  in  Hinduwce  printed  by  the 
School. Book  Society.  The  streets  of  Benares  being  mostly 
very  narrow,  the  boys  assemble  in  long  verandahs,  and 
the  passers-by  see  and  hear  all  that  takes  place:  this, 
though  unfavourable  for  the  purposes  of  a  school,  yet 
causes  what  the  boys  read  to  be  heard  by  many,  and  some- 
times a  hundred  people  or  upwards  will  crowd  around 
while  the  boys  are  examined  in  the  previous  iveek's  exer- 
cises, and  their  knowledge  is  diffused." — Report  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  1827,  p.  114. 


160 


The  Calcutta  Committee  gives  the  following  account  of 
an  examination  of  the  schools ; — 

"  On  the  23d  of  April,  a  general  examination  was  held 
of  all  the  schools,  previous  to  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Committee.  About  sixty  attended,  from  seven  years  old 
and  upwards.  The  business  of  the  day  commenced  with 
the  third  chapter  of  Galatians,  read  by  one  of  the  elder 
boys  in  Hindoostanee,  and  a  Hindostance  prayer  by  Mr. 
Wilkinson,  in  which  the  Christian  boys  joined,  the  teachers 
and  other  boys  attending  in  a  very  orderly  manner.  The 
different  classes  were  then  examined  in  an  Elementary 
Catechism  composed  by  Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  Assembly's 
Catechism,  and  WTatts'  Catechism  of  Scripture  Names, 
various  Native  Class-books,  the  Hinclce,  Oordoo  and  Per- 
sian Testaments,  the  Pentateuch  in  Oordoo,  and  the  Per- 
sian. One  boy  repeated  a  Poem  of  considerable  length, 
on  the  Being  and  Attributes  of  God ;  and  all  performed 
very  well  with  reference  to  their  ages  and  periods  of  at- 
tendance. But  what  appeared  to  give  most  general  satis- 
faction, was  the  performance  of  a  class  of  six  boys,  (two 
from  the  Seminary,  and  four  from  the  Central  School,) 
who  read  various  passages  from  the  New  Testament,  Pen- 
tateuch, and  Psalms,  in  Persian  and  Ilindce.  The  feel- 
ing and  intelligent  manner  in  which  they  delivered  their 
various  portions,  contrasted  with  the  formal  drawl  so  gen- 
erally exhibited  by  native  readers — the  readiness,  accuracy, 
and  facility  with  which  they  referred  to  different  Scrip- 
tures bearing  on  the  subject  of  their  Lecture,  particularly 
from  Psalm  viii.  to  the  interpret atory  passage  in  Matthew 
xxi.  and  Hebrews  ii — and  the  good  sense  and  correctness 
with  which  they  answered  the  various  questions  proposed 
15 


17  0 


to  them,  could  not  fail  to  excite  mingled  gratification  and 
surprise  in  the  minds  of  all  who  considered  how  lately 
they  had  come  under  this  species  of  instruction.  The  in- 
terest also  taken  in  the  Lecture  by  the  native  teachers, 
and  their  inquiries  respecting  passages  of  which  an  ex- 
planation was  offered,  could  not  but  be  highly  pleasing." 
— Report  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  l&27,p.  121. 

"  I  sent  out  the  schoolmaster  last  Sunday  while  the  bell 
was  ringing,  to  those  who  lived  near,  to  invite  them  to 
come ;  but  they  would  not :  they  asked  what  profit  they 
should  get  by  going  to  hear  a  sermon.  Finding  that  no 
adults  attended  the  services  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday 
evenings,  I  dispensed  with  preaching,  and  now  read  the 
prayers,  and  catechise  the  children  on  the  history  of  the 
Bible  and  the  leading  truths  of  Christianity :  by  begin- 
ning these  services  an  hour  before  the  usual  time  of  closing 
the  school,  the  attendance  of  most  of  the  children  is  se- 
cured ;  for  though  they  are  not  compelled  to  remain,  yet 
they  generally  do — that  is,  the  Cingalese  boys  on  the 
Wednesday,  and  the  Portuguese  on  the  Thursday.  Seve- 
ral also  of  the  Headmen's  sons,  who  come  to  school  to 
learn  English,  are,  by  this  means,  brought  to  engage  in 
Christian  worship,  who  would  not  venture  to  come  on  the 
Sunday  for  the  express  purpose :  in  this  way  it  may  be 
hoped  that  some  good  may  be  effected — that  their  preju- 
dices against  our  religion  will,  in  time,  wear  away — and 
that  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  becoming  familiar  to  them, 
will,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  enlighten  their  minds: 
they  will  not  kneel  with  the  other  children  at  prayers,  but 
they  do  not  object  to  take  a  book  and  join  in  the  service." — 
Report  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  1827,  p.  149. 


171 


Of  the  schools  generally,  Mr.  Ward  writes — 
"  They  are  all  visited  twice,  and  in  some  cases  three 
times,  a  week,  by  our  young  people;  which,  together  with 
our  own  visits,  will  be  productive,  I  trust,  of  a  gradual  im- 
provement in  the  rising  generation.  Wc  have  never  be- 
fore possessed  the  means  which  we  now  do,  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  important  object." — Ibid.  p.  150. 


It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that, 
next  to  an  established'liturgy, 
and  beyond  all  prescribed  con- 
fessions of  faith,  the  single  or- 
dinance of  catechetical  instruc- 
tion has  been,  under  Providence 
the  great  stay  and  support, 
throughout  Christendom,  of  or- 
thodox unwavering  catholicity. 

Bishop  Jebb. 


JJostscvfpt, 

BY  THE  AMERICAN  EDITOR. 


The  purpose  with  which  this  re-print  has  been  under- 
taken will  be  fully  answered  if  it  shall  serve  to  extend  the 
increasing  attention  which  is  now  attracted  towards  the 
plan  of  public  catechising,  and  to  establish  more  widely 
a  just  and  partial  conviction  of  the  great  importance  of  that 
ancient  institution.  The  success  which  shall  attend  its 
adoption  in  any  case  will  be  mainly  dependent,  under  God, 
upon  the  pastoral  interest.  As  to  the  duty  of  bringing  up 
the  children  of  the  Church  "in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord,"  there  will  be  no  difference  of  opinion.  The 
only  point  to  be  decided  is,  the  most  effectual  mode.  If  the 
test  of  experience  be  followed,  the  decision  will  be  easily 
established.  A  chief  obstacle  to  its  adoption  is  the  appre- 
hension, commonly  met  with,  of  failure  in  the  attempt. 
There  is  a  supposed  necessity  of  some  peculiar  fitness  for 
the  work  which  all  cannot  attain.  Doubtless  there  will  be 
different  degrees  of  facility  and  different  degrees  of  success 
in  this,  and  every  other  human  enterprize.  But  because 
all  preachers  are  not  eloquent  alike,  are  not  all  to  preach  1 
The  conviction  is  established  in  the  author's  mind,  after 
much  reflection  and  experience,  that  a  high  degree  of  ex- 


174 


cellcnce  is  much  more  generally  attainable  in  catechising 
than  in  preaching.  The  saying  often  quoted,  is  not  lost 
sight  of,  that  "  a  boy  may  preach,  but  it  requires  a  man 
to  catechize."  Allowance  is  first  to  be  made  for  a  fair 
measure  of  proverbial  exaggeration  in  the  antithesis  here 
stated.  For  the  rest,  experience  makes  the  difference. 
"  Docendo  docemur."  The  catechist  will  learn  to  cate- 
chise. Only  let  him  have  long  patience.  If  there  be  a 
motto  for  him,  better  than  any  other,  it  is  Isaiah's — "  pre- 
cept must  be  upon  precept,  precept  upon  precept;  line  upon 
line,  line  upon  line;  here  a  little  and  there  a  little."  For  the 
method  of  catechising,  it  will  vary — the  Church  catechism 
being  the  basis — with  every  variety  of  character  and  cir- 
cumstance. No  course  that  could  be  delineated  would 
suit  all.  A  specimen  of  the  course  pursued,  with  great 
advantage,  by  the  present  writer,  is  in  preparation  for  the 
press — "  the  Church  Catechism  analyzed,  and  proved  by 
Scripture."  After  all,  it  will  be  no  more  than  "  Hints  for 
Catechising." 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 


Introduction  by  the  American  Editor   iii 

The  Church's  care  for  little  children   7 

The  Author's  Introduction   47 

Preliminary  Observations   51 

Extract  from  the  Bishop  of  London's  Charge  .  .  .52 
Catechising,  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Clergy 

abroad   54 

The  Practice  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Clergy  in  England        .  56 

Its  Success   57 

An  Instrument  of  Proselytism   60 

Practised  by  the  Foreign  Protestant  Clergy        ...  63 

Its  Happy  Effects   65 

Measures  which  have  been  adopted  in  England  to  enforce  Cate- 
chising on  the  Part  of  the  Established  Clergy        .       .  67 

Canon  of  Edward  VI                                           .       .  68 

Penal  Injunctions  of  Elizabeth       ......  69 

Canons  of  James  I.    ........  71 

Rubric  of  1661   73 

Insufficiency  of  the  Rubric  to  revive  effective  Catechising  .  74 
Motives  derived  from  the  Baptismal  Service  .  .  .78 
Motives  derived  from  the  Ordination  Service  ...  80 
A  Mistaken  Idea,  that  the  Necessity  of  Catechising  is  super- 
seded by  the  National  School  System  .  .  .  .  S4 
Erroneous  Estimate  of  tlie  Importance  of  Catechising  .  87 
Catechising  practised  by  the  Apostles  and  their  Successors  .  89 
The  Attention  paid  to  it  by  the  Early  Church  .  .  .  91 
The  Opinions  of  the  Early  Reformers,  and  other  Eminent  Men  94 
The  supposed  Difficulties  of  Catechising  .  .  .  .98 
Practical  adoption  of  the  Proposed  System         .       .       .  101 


176 


Page. 


In  what  Respect  the  old  Practice  may  be  modified  and  improved  109 

I.  The  Time  of  Catechising  110 

II.  The  interspersed  Explanations,  and  mixed  Character  of 

the  Practice  Ill 

Methods  of  rendering  Catechising  attractive     .       .       .  112 
Example  of  the  System  in  reference  to  the  Catechism    .  .118 
An  Example  in  reference  to  a  Scriptural  Examination       .  121 
The  Mode  of  Interrogatory  on  the  Principal  Articles  of  Reli- 
gion, and  giving  Answers  from  Scripture      .        .       .  127 
Miscellaneous  Doctrines  explained  in  Answers  from  Scripture  130 
Explanations  of  Words  and  Phrases         ....  132 
The  Progress  of  Children,  who  have  been  Catechised  exempli- 
fied by  Questions  proposed,  and  Answers  liter.illy  re- 
turned by  them    ........  133 

Popularity  of  Catechising  137 

Its  Usefulness  143 

It  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  Domestic  Instruction     .       .       .  152 
The  same  system  adopted  at  Durham  ....  15G 

Conclusion     .       .       .       *       .       .       .  •  .  162 

Appendix   ..........  165 

Postscript       .  .    :  173 


